2-26-2015 by Falls Church News-Press

February 26 - March 4, 2015

Falls Church, Virginia • w w w . fc n p . c o m • Free

Founded 1991 • Vol. XXV No. 1

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

Inside This Week F.C. School Board Delays Budget Vote

The Falls Church School Board delayed its scheduled vote on its budget request for a week to allow more time for results from an informal survey to be received and to accommodate some late changes. See News Briefs, page 9

F.C.’s Apple Federal Credit Union Robbed

The City of Falls Church Police Department is looking for a suspect who robbed the Apple Federal Credit Union at 1100 block of West Broad Street at about 10 a.m. last Saturday.

New F.C. Real Estate Assessments Reveal Highest Growth in Region U nder

the S ea

Commercial Property Boost Most Robust Of Area Jurisdictions by Nicholas F. Benton

Falls Church News-Press

present library location on Park Avenue have been seen as exorbitantly high in the view of some on the City Council. One estimate developed with the aid of consultants put the cost at nearly $20 million, and a subsequent plan was priced at $8 million, but requiring another $3 million to build a parking deck on an adjacent private property, should an agreement be worked out.

The real estate assessments that were mailed to property owners in the City of Falls Church and posted on the City’s website this Tuesday showed an overall 4.85 percent increase over a year ago, due mostly to new mixeduse construction projects now underway. The increase is the highest in the region, F.C. City Manager Wyatt Shields reported to the F.C. City Council Monday night. The increase is “dramatic and outpaces our peers in Northern Virginia,” Shields said. The data will be folded into the revenue portion of the Fiscal Year 2016 budget that Shields is due to recommend to the Council on March 9. Taken as a whole, City single family homes increased in assessed value by an average of 3.4 percent, Shields said, while town houses grew in value by 5.75 percent and condos by 5.73 percent. Overall commercial properties rose by 2.37 percent, also the highest growth in the region, and overall growth in projected revenues for the coming fiscal year is be 3.7 percent. According to a summary City statement, the total taxable assessed value for all properties in the city, as of January 1, 2015, is $3,721,286,900 ($3.7 billion), a 4.85 percent increase from January 1, 2014. New construction (valued at $87.8 million) accounts for just over half of the increase in assessed value in the City, and market appreciation accounts for the other half.

Continued on Page 5

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See News Briefs, page 9

Maureen Dowd: Jeb’s Brainless Trust

Like the Clintons, the Bushes drag the country through national traumas that spring from their convoluted family dynamic and then disingenuously wonder why we concern ourselves with their family dynamic. See page 13

Press Pass with Chris Bliss

Stand-up comedian and juggler Chris Bliss grew up in the nation’s capital, so he knows about the importance of the rule of law, power of ideas and monuments. See page 19

MARY ELLEN HENDERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL student Ted Bartimus (center) is Sebastian and Sarah Armstrong (left) is Ariel in the school’s musical production of “The Little Mermaid, Jr.,” which premiered last Thursday. Saturday’s performance of the play was rescheduled to this Saturday, Feb. 28, due the snowstorm over the weekend. (Photo: Kevin Blair/FCCPS Communications)

Mason Row Plans Now Show Room for 2-Story City Library by Nicholas F. Benton

Falls Church News-Press

Index Editorial..................6 Letters................6, 8 News & Notes.10-11 Comment........12-15 Calendar.........16-17 Food & Dining ......18

Press Pass..........19 Sports .................21 Classified Ads .....24 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........25 Critter Corner.......26

Peter Batten of the Spectrum Group last week unveiled an option for the relocation of at least a portion of Falls Church’s Mary Riley Styles Public Library to a new two-story, 24,000 square-foot building in its proposed 4.3-acre Mason Row development at the intersection of West Broad and North West Street. The plan was presented to a special meeting at

City Hall last Friday afternoon. Batten told the News-Press that he was approached by a member of the Falls Church City Council concerning an exploration of the option about four months ago while the City’s Library Board was wrestling with options for renovating and expanding the library at its current location and was running up against severe space and cost limitations. Cost estimates for an adequate renovation and expansion of the

PAGE 2 | FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC OF AN APPLICATION BY VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY FOR APPROVAL OF A PILOT AND EXPERIMENTAL RATE, DESIGNATED RIDER DCS, TO ENABLE CUSTOMER PURCHASES OF DISTRIBUTED SOLAR GENERATION PURSUANT TO § 56-234 B OF THE CODE OF VIRGINIA CASE NO. PUE-2015-00005 On January 20, 2015, Virginia Electric and Power Company d/b/a Dominion Virginia Power (“Dominion Virginia Power” or the “Company”), pursuant to § 56-234 B of the Code of Virginia and in accordance with the blanket certificate of public convenience and necessity (“Blanket CPCN”) for its Solar Partnership Program, filed with the State Corporation Commission (“Commission”) an application for approval of the Dominion Community Solar Pilot (“DCS Pilot”) and experimental rate, designated “Rider DCS – Dominion Community Solar (Experimental)” (“Rider DCS”), to enable voluntary customer purchases of electric energy output from a Company-owned, 2 megawatt (“MW”) direct current distributed solar generation (“Solar DG”) facility sited in Virginia (“Application”). The Company states in its Application that this Solar DG facility would be constructed under the Blanket CPCN that the Company received in Case No. PUE-2011-00117 to construct and operate up to 30 MW (DC), in the aggregate, of Solar DG facilities in its service territory for the Solar Partnership Program. The Application states that the proposed DCS Pilot will allow the Company to assess the level of interest of customers who want to support the development of Solar DG in the Commonwealth, but may not be able or willing to install solar generation facilities on their homes or businesses. Dominion Virginia Power states that the proposed DCS Pilot would further the Company’s ability to study the impacts and assess the benefits to its customers of Solar DG on the Company’s distribution system and would complement the following currently approved voluntary renewable energy programs: the Dominion Green Power® program, the Solar Partnership Program, the Solar Purchase Program, and the Renewable Generation Pilot Program (“RG Pilot Program and Rate Schedule RG”). Further, the Company believes that the DCS Pilot would advance the policy goals of Chapter 771 of the 2011 Virginia Acts of Assembly to promote solar energy through distributed generation. The Application states that customers in Rate Schedules 1, 1P, 1S, 1T, DP-R, 1EV, 5, 5C, 5P, 6, 6TS, 10, 25, 29, GS-1, DP-1, GS-2, GS-2T, and DP-2 would be eligible to participate in the proposed DCS Pilot. Customers in the GS-3 and GS-4 rate classes are not eligible as they already have the option to support renewable energy through the Company’s RG Pilot Program and Rate Schedule RG. As proposed, customers participating in the DCS Pilot would have the opportunity to purchase a portion of their electricity needs under Rider DCS from output produced by a new Company-owned 2 MW (DC) Solar DG facility, and would purchase the remainder of their electricity needs under their current rate schedule. Under the proposed DCS Pilot, the Company proposes to sell “blocks” of output from the Solar DG facility in increments of 100 kilowatt hours, each referred to as a “DCS Block.” The Application states that the cost for each DCS block is $4.00. According to the Company, this rate is designed to recover the costs of the participating Solar DG facility, but with an offset for the value of the power produced and the associated renewable energy certificates to reduce the DCS Pilot costs for participating customers. The Company proposes that the purchase price for the DCS Blocks be fixed for the two-year term of the DCS Pilot. The Company is proposing minimum and maximum consumption allotments, in order to allow for a larger number of participants. Under the Company’s proposal, in order to participate in the DCS Pilot, customers would purchase a minimum of one DCS Block, up to a maximum of five DCS Blocks, for residential customers, or ten DCS Blocks for non-residential customers, on a monthly basis during the two-year term, with automatic renewals from month to month. Enrolled customers may increase or decrease the amount of energy purchased through Rider DCS upon notification to the Company, with increases subject to the maximum consumption allotments and program availability. The Company’s proposal would also allow customers to opt out (with 30 days’ prior notice required for a customer to terminate service under the program), during the two-year term of the DCS Pilot. After receiving a termination notice, the Company would terminate service under Rider DCS effective with, or prior to, the customer’s usage occurring after the next meter read date, but no later than 60 days after the date on which the Company received the customer termination notice. According to the Application, the costs to construct and operate the Company-owned Solar DG facility, as well as the funds received under Rider DCS, would be tracked separately and accounted for as a subset of the $80 million cost cap approved by the Commission for the Solar Partnership Program. The Company states that the DCS Pilot should therefore have no additional impact to base rates paid by non-participating customers. If the Company’s Application is approved, eligible customers may enroll in the DCS Pilot online through their individual account page via the Company’s self-service web portal, or by telephone through Dominion Virginia Power’s Customer Service from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Eastern local time on non-holiday weekdays. If the DCS Pilot becomes fully subscribed, the Company will add additional customers wishing to subscribe to the pilot to a “Deferred Enrollment List” and permit future enrollments on a first-come-first-served basis. The Company proposes that Rider DCS become effective on the first day of the month following the later of (a) within ninety (90) days after the date of the Commission’s final order in this proceeding, or (b) the participating Solar DG facility is installed and fully operational. The Application states that, if the proposed two-year DCS Pilot is approved, the Company will assess the level of customer interest, the efficacy of the pricing structure in Rider DCS, the billing processes, and, if successful, how best to integrate and grow the DCS Pilot. The Company states that at the end of the DCS Pilot term, or earlier depending on customer participation, it may file for an extension and/or expansion of the DCS Pilot, or for approval of a permanent program that may be independent of the Solar Partnership Program. Interested persons are encouraged to review the Application and supporting documents for the details of Dominion Virginia Power’s proposed DCS Pilot program. The Company’s Application is docketed and assigned Case No. PUE-2015-00005. The Commission entered an Order for Notice and Hearing that, among other things, scheduled a public hearing to commence at 10 a.m. on June 23, 2015, in the Commission’s courtroom located on the second floor of the Tyler Building, 1300 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, to receive testimony from members of the public and evidence related to the Application from the Company, any respondents, and the Commission’s Staff. Any persons desiring to testify as a public witness at this hearing should appear fifteen (15) minutes prior to the starting time of the hearing and contact the Commission’s Bailiff. Individuals with disabilities who require an accommodation to participate in the hearing should contact the Commission at least seven (7) days before the scheduled hearing at 1-800-552-7945 (voice) or 1-804-371-9206 (TDD). The Application and the Commission’s Order for Notice and Hearing are available for public inspection during regular business hours at each of the Company’s business offices in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Copies also may be obtained by submitting a written request to counsel for the Company, William H. Baxter, II, Esquire, Dominion Resources Services, Inc., 120 Tredegar Street, RS-2, Richmond, Virginia 23219. If acceptable to the requesting party, the Company may provide the Application by electronic means. Copies of the Application and documents filed in this case also are available for interested persons to review in the Commission’s Document Control Center, located on the first floor of the Tyler Building, 1300 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, between the hours of 8:15 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Interested persons also may download unofficial copies from the Commission’s website: http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case. On or before April 10, 2015, any person interested in participating as a respondent in this proceeding shall file a notice of participation. If not filed electronically, an original and fifteen (15) copies of a notice of participation shall be submitted to Joel H. Peck, Clerk, State Corporation Commission, c/o Document Control Center, P.O. Box 2118, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2118. The respondent shall simultaneously serve a copy of the notice of participation on counsel for the Company, William H. Baxter, II, Esquire, Dominion Resources Services, Inc., 120 Tredegar Street, RS-2, Richmond, Virginia 23219. Pursuant to Rule 5 VAC 5-20-80 B, Participation as a respondent, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (“Rules of Practice”), any notice of participation shall set forth: (i) a precise statement of the interest of the respondent; (ii) a statement of the specific action sought to the extent then known; and (iii) the factual and legal basis for the action. Any organization, corporation, or government body participating as a respondent must be represented by counsel as required by 5 VAC 5-20-30, Counsel, of the Rules of Practice. All filings shall refer to Case No. PUE-2015-00005. On or before May 1, 2015, each respondent may file with the Clerk of the Commission and serve on the Commission Staff, the Company, and all other respondents any testimony and exhibits by which the respondent expects to establish its case. If not filed electronically, an original and fifteen (15) copies of such testimony and exhibits shall be submitted to Joel H. Peck, Clerk, State Corporation Commission, c/o Document Control Center, P.O. Box 2118, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2118. Respondents also shall comply with the Commission’s Rules of Practice, including: 5 VAC 5-20-140, Filing and service; 5 VAC 5-20-150, Copies and format; and 5 VAC 5-20-240, Prepared testimony and exhibits. All filings shall refer to Case No. PUE-2015-00005. On or before June 16, 2015, any interested person may file with Joel H. Peck, Clerk, State Corporation Commission, c/o Document Control Center, P.O. Box 2118, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2118, written comments on the Application. Any interested person desiring to submit comments electronically may do so on or before June 16, 2015, by following the instructions found on the Commission’s website: http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case. Compact discs or any other form of electronic storage medium may not be filed with the comments. All comments shall refer to Case No. PUE-2015-00005. The Commission’s Rules of Practice may be viewed at http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case. A printed copy of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and an official copy of the Commission’s Order for Notice and Hearing in this proceeding may be obtained from Joel H. Peck, Clerk, State Corporation Commission, c/o Document Control Center, P.O. Box 2118, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2118. VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY d/b/a DOMINION VIRGINIA POWER

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 3

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PAGE 4 | FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Assessment Growth Area’s Highest Continued from Page 1

Commercial new construction accounted for $65 million of growth; residential new construction accounted for $22.8 million of growth. Overall commercial and multifamily property values increased 2.37 percent since January 2014; overall residential real estate values increased 4.11 percent over the last year.

Single family home values had varying changes but overall increased by 3.42 percent; townhomes increased overall by 5.75 percent; and residential condominiums had varying changes but overall increased 5.73 percent. As set forth in the Virginia Constitution, real estate is assessed at 100 percent of fair market value, according to the City’s Public Information Office, although that point is often dis-

puted by citizens. The City says that its Office of Real Estate Assessment calculates property value annually using mass appraisal techniques that are standard in the real estate assessment industry. The notice of assessment is an appraisal of the fair market value of the property; it is not a tax bill. Property tax payments will be due in two installments on June 5 and Dec. 5; property owners will the

Healthy Smiles Begin Here

receive bills prior to these dates. Based on the City Council’s decisions in response to the recommended budget of Shields, which will include the City operating budget, its Capital Improvements Projects budget, and the budget request from the School Board (which will be determined next Tuesday), the City’s real estate tax rate will be determined by a Council vote at the end of this April. It is currently $1.305 per $100 of assessed valuation. Public hearings on the budget will be held on March 23,

April 13, and April 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers (300 Park Ave.). Town Hall meetings will be held on March 14 and April 4 at 10 a.m. in the Community Center. The complete Council budget schedule is available on the City’s website. For citizens who do not agree with the City’s assessment of their property, an appeals process exists, with deadlines for assessment appeals being Friday, April 3, for an Office of Real Estate Assessment review and Friday, June 5 for a Board of Equalization review.

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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 5

Latest Mason Row Proposal Includes Library Building GR

PARK AVE.

OV E E AV

LIBRARY

Publicly so far, Vice Mayor David Snyder and Council member Dan Sze have said they’d like to see such a possibility explored. At Monday’s Falls Church City Council meeting, Snyder said criteria for consideration of the option would be a substantial reduction in the cost of renovation plans at the library’s current site, and an ability to show a capacity for what “modern libraries” bring to the public, including large open spaces.” City Manager Wyatt Shields said the proposal “merits further consideration.” He said the developer “has offered some preliminary numbers” and that “the overall deal structure has a lot of components to it.” City Councilman Nader Baroukh was skeptical in his comments at Monday’s meeting, saying he’d need to know “the ramifications for the current library” and wondering “where is the Library Board on this?” The proposal was slated to be discussed at a meeting of the Council’s Economic Development subcommittee

tonight (Thursday). “A library would be a very beneficial use in a project like Mason Row,” Batten said in comments to the News-Press. “It would increase the visibility and profile of the library while providing it with a comparably affordable new space with plenty of parking.” (An advantage would also be the ability of library users to eat and shop on the same trip, something which is a toxic option for library users at its current location, given the eagerness of a towing company to remove vehicles from the adjacent Broaddale Shopping Center the minute a patron steps off that property to include a trip to the library. Lighting and proximity of other businesses would also make a new library at Mason Row safer than a location on a dark side street). Batten said the building Spectrum has proposed would have 15,000 square feet on the first floor and 9,000 on the second. The City, under the current conceptual plan, would buy the building and move all or part of the library there. The proposal

RETAIL N. WEST ST.

Continued from Page 1

THEATER

RETAIL

RETAIL W. BROAD ST.

MASON ROW DEVELOPERS revealed plans to house a City library at the site of its proposed development at West Broad Street and North West Street. The area in orange above is one of the proposed placements of the library. (Photo: GTM Architects) is expected to be included in the next Mason Row hearing before a City Council work session next week.

A ground swell of opposition to the idea of a move has become evident, and the News-Press has learned that at least two FOIA

requests for Council and City Hall email correspondences on the subject have been filed by individual citizens.

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PAGE 6 | FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015

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Sharpe’s Sports Safety Ideas

Special kudos this week go to long-time Falls Church School Board (and former City Council) member Kieran Sharpe for his bold and visionary, if unsuccessful, efforts to persuade his School Board colleagues to adopt some important new safety provisions for students in athletic programs. His first was to call for a review of the component materials being used in the artificial surface on the high school football/soccer field that is scheduled for replacement this year. There is a growing corpus of evidence showing that some of the components included in the surface used at George Mason High School here, such as rubber, may be causing illness and even elevated levels of ovarian cancer among women. It seems clear that much more attention needs to be given to this, especially before the schools commit to replacing the current surface. This area, artificial surfaces in non-professional sports, is relatively new and the data is only now beginning to come in. So, Falls Church can wait for another eight years or so for its new surface to play out its life, or pause now to better determine whether a different combination of substances, such as cork instead of rubber, might reduce instances of illness that might not even become evident for some years. Sharpe’s second area of concern is for the growing evidence of serious and substantial brain injuries being experienced by young athletes playing tackle football. On the level of the professional National Football League, the instances of not only violent concussions, but of repeated sub-concussive blows to the head has resulted in astonishing levels of “chronic traumatic encephalopathy” also known as CTE or degenerative brain disease, discovered in former players (the disease can only be diagnosed once a player has died and an autopsy is performed). It is the susceptibility of football players to CTE which is the issue here, in ways that are not the same for other sports. While there are the obvious concussions in other sports, in tackle football it is the repeated violent contact that is the very substance of practices as well as games that can bring on CTE, years before any overt symptoms manifest themselves. Members of the Falls Church School Board appeared very unaware of the CTE problem in opposing the idea of football being “singled out” when there are concussions that occur in other sports, as well. In both of these cases, one could point to the problem getting the public to make the connection between mining and black lung disease or smoking and lung cancer which experts point to as comparable and relevant to the present issues. In the case of CTE, studies have shown that it is the younger, not fully developed brains that are most susceptible to life-long injury, and as word spreads, the popularity of sports like Pop Warner (youth) football has nosedived. It is not unreasonable to expect that a pace-setting school system like Falls Church’s should lead the way on such matters.

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Support Our School Staff & Keep Them Here in F.C.

Editor, Alarm bells rang for me when I read one detail about some of the FY 2016 budget scenarios for our Falls Church City Public Schools: Certain versions of the budget would drop a previous four-year plan to bring our teachers’ salaries up to the levels of those offered in neighboring jurisdictions, specifically Arlington. I believe even a four-year plan to phase in competitive pay for our

teachers is not terrifically aggressive, and I would certainly hate to see even that plan slip. Even the proposed schools budget I have seen – which does stick to the four-year plan – still assumes five full-time positions cut by attrition. This seems to me an unwise lack of investment in our schools. Our City is growing; families are voting with their feet by moving here, and are able to pay high prices to do so; I would

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hope we support our schools staff enough to keep them here and match our neighbors’ compensation. Eric Timar Falls Church

F.C. School Officials ‘Cherry Picking’ Salary Statistics Editor, It seems that school officials are still citing “cherry picked statistics” that best serve the school’s interests. I understand. However, for representatives to continue communicating with misleading

data indicates their growing concern about the viability of the current school model. In last week’s edition Ms. Kearney “noted the study showing that City general government employees are being paid comparably to their Fairfax and Arlington County counterparts, but our teachers are not.” The comparisons cited for city employees with other jurisdictions at a mid-level amount was accurate. However, the teachers of Fall Church’s mid-level salaries were compared with the high-levels of the other jurisdictions’ teachers. Hardly an accurate comparison! How can the citizens

Letters Continued on Page 8

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

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FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 7

Civic Engagement is a Hallmark of Falls Church B� P�� W��

When I had the honor of becoming the chairperson of the Falls Church City Democratic Committee a few months ago, I thought I knew what to expect: working with dedicated volunteers to engage voters to support our party’s candidates. What I did not expect, however, was the cordial bipartisan cooperation offered by our counterparts on the Falls Church City Republican Committee. At a time when political discourse at the national level is so divisive and nasty, and when our state legislature is unable to agree on seemingly sensible measures like non-partisan redistricting, it has been refreshing to see how much common ground we can find here in the Little City. Don’t get me wrong – Republican activists in Falls Church are just as eager to elect their candidates as we are ours. However, they are also committed to working together on city-wide efforts like the Youth Representatives Initiative and cohosting non-partisan community forums throughout the year. Our youth representative and I were warmly welcomed at a recent Republican committee meeting at which their youth representative was officially sworn in. These young people have known each other since elementary school, and although they have differing political beliefs, they set a great example of the kind of civic engagement that is a hallmark of

Falls Church. (Another thing that our committees have in common: we would all like to encourage more young people to join!) The Falls Church Republicans also held an awards dinner last week at which they honored several local Democrats, including my predecessor as party chair, Betty Coll, in

“It has been refreshing to see how much common ground we can �ind here in the Little City.” recognition of her eight years of service in that role. I have attended numerous political events throughout Northern Virginia over the years, and I can’t think of a similar example of generously recognizing fellow residents across party lines. Issues that seem highly partisan actually have support among a majority of Virginians, such as immigration reform. A 2014 poll of Virginia voters showed that 90 percent of Republicans, 85 percent of Democrats and 92 percent of independents believe that America’s immigration system is in need of fixing. 83 percent of Democratic respondents said they would rather vote for a presidential candidate from

a political party that supports immigration reform. Among Republicans, the number was 71 percent – a decisive majority. Two weeks ago, I participated in an event that helped low-income families sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Despite the onslaught of distortions about this law, it is already saving lives and taxpayer dollars. However, our legislature has refused to expand Medicaid, thereby forgoing billions of dollars in federal funding that we Virginians are sending to other states instead, leaving 400,000 Virginians without access to affordable health care. I felt extremely frustrated, and ashamed, to have to tell a woman who made $10,000 last year that she makes too little to qualify for participation in the ACA’s healthcare marketplace, yet is not eligible for Medicaid here in Virginia. In one of the more prosperous states in the richest country in the world, we are leaving people like her to jeopardize her health and risk bankruptcy if she has a medical emergency. This is shameful. It also makes no sense financially. Those of us lucky to have insurance already pay a “hidden tax” to cover uncompensated care provided for uninsured Virginians. Hospitals are also stuck with those bills, rather than receiving federal dollars under expanded Medicaid. This costs close to $200 million each year. Forgone funding also means fewer health care jobs. That’s why the Virginia Chamber of Commerce supports Medicaid expan-

sion, too – another example of working across traditional party lines! In Virginia we have elections every year, and we’ll be working hard on behalf of our respective candidates once again this fall. You could easily get the impression from recent media coverage that we are already in the thick of the 2016 presidential election, but not so fast! Here in Falls Church, in addition to candidates in our non-partisan city council and school board elections, there will be four outstanding public servants on the ballot in November: State Senator Richard Saslaw, Delegate Marcus Simon, and two constitutional officers who serve both Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos and Clerk of the Circuit Court Paul Ferguson. They will be joining our recently elected Congressman Don Beyer at the Falls Church City Democratic Committee’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Sunday, April 12 at 5 p.m. in the community center. This potluck supper has a unique small-town flavor and is a favorite with politicians and community members alike. We hope you can join us! The Falls Church City Democratic Committee meets on the third Wednesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. at the community center. We always welcome volunteers and new members, so please get involved.  Peg Willingham is the Chair of the Falls Church City Democratic Committee.

Q�� W�� Should the F.C. library move to the new Mason Row development at N. West & West Broad streets? • Yes • No

Last Week’s Question:

Is it important for Falls Church teacher salaries to be competitive with nearby jurisdictions?

• Don’t know

Log on to www.FCNP.com to cast your vote

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

[WRITE FOR THE PRESS] The News-Press welcomes readers to send in submissions in the form of Letters to the Editor

& Guest Commentaries. Letters to the Editor should be no more than 350 words and writers are limited to one appearance every four weeks. Guest Commentaries should be no more than 800 words and writers are limited to one appearance every four months. Because of space constraints, not all submissions will be published. All submissions to the News-Press should be original, unpublished content. We reserve the right to edit submissions for length, grammar and accuracy. All submissions should include writer’s name, address, phone and e-mail address if available.

Email: letters@fcnp.com | Mail: Letters to the Editor, Falls Church News-Press, 200 Little Falls St., #508, Falls Church 22046 | Fax: 703.340.0347

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TO LETTERS THE EDITOR Continued from Page 6

“On a cold, windy March morning 50 years ago I was a 29-year-old Newsweek correspondent, and I walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, just ahead of 525 marchers. Ahead, helmeted Alabama State Troopers and sheriff’s deputies blocked the highway. The Bloody Sunday confrontation that followed is the most searing memory from all my four decades of reporting the news—and it’s the most important event I ever covered.” – Bill C. P��: L�� G��

here believe anything put forth by school officials when they continue to “pad’ their data? Has integrity, reliable facts and working together been “banned” throughout all jurisdictions in this area? What percentage of city households actually have children in the schools? How do mid-level school salaries compare with the mid-level salaries of comparable districts? How much thought did school officials demonstrate concerning other city employees who were laid off due to the school’s generous portion of the budget several years ago? How many other “similar sized cities” in this area have a school system separate from the county’s? Should we acquiesce with a body that continues to put their desires before the city’s needs? I state again, “The school is here because of the city” not the city exists because of the school! John Boeddeker Falls Church

Governor’s Square Sidewalks Not Cleared of Snow Editor, Shame on you, Governor’s Square! With a few exceptions, your sidewalks have not been cleared of snow. Pedestrians are forced to walk in busy Great Falls and Little Falls Streets. This has been a recurring problem. If individual residents don’t want to shovel snow, the association should hire a contractor to do the job. That’s the way the civilized world works. Sally Phillips Falls Church

Council’s Plans for Growth Expansion Are Premature Editor, The City Council is considering huge residential building projects

that will eventually bring the City a mere two to five million over the course of years, not per year. It seems there is no consideration that it costs approximately $12,000 to educate each child in our city. The Council is already resisting realistic budget requests for the city schools for this year. Schools will be at full capacity in the next three to four years, possibly sooner. So, why is there no discussion of the actual costs to the City for these big development projects? Educating our children is just one area that needs to be considered. How about the transportation infrastructure; the additional administration functions for running a large growth spurt; and the green space in the City. What about activities for children, especially teens, which will undoubtedly be an important part of our community? I believe the Council plans for more growth expansions to be premature until the City takes a proactive approach on how to manage future expenses. It is absolutely critical the City develops realistic cost models based on actual costs of running the City down the line, not on some numbers developers provide to make the building projects seem like a deal for the City. Kelly Pavela Falls Church

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NEWS BRIEFS F.C. School Board Delays Budget Vote The Falls Church School Board Tuesday night delayed its scheduled vote on its budget request for a week to allow more time for results from an informal survey to be received and to accommodate some late changes. Changes included adding in $300,000 to cover the same amount that the Planning Commission on Monday declined to include in the City’s Capital Improvement Projects budget, including for a new bus and planning for the development of the land recently brought into the City limits that covers the high school and middle school. The total operating budget sum is now at $46,711,800, including a City transfer of $38,685,000, or a 5.25% increase over the current year’s budget. The School Board was addressed by F.C. Council member Phil Duncan who said that while “we’re looking for every penny on our side,” the projections are very tight for the coming budget, although “the future for the City is bright with the prospects for further economic development.” School Board chair Justin Castillo followed, saying, “I agree that with careful planning and good stewardship will get through this” to a brighter future, though he cautioned that “Once we fall behind, we begin to go the wrong direction,” noting that closing the teacher pay gap (with rival districts such as Arlington) and coping with enrollment growth numbers are the priorities. In another development, the School Board Tuesday also determined not to respond in this budget to requests by Board member Kieran Sharpe to act on the potential hazards to students of a new artificial turf and of head injuries in football.

F.C. Credit Union Robbed, Suspect Sought The City of Falls Church Police Department is looking for a suspect who robbed the Apple Federal Credit Union in the 1100 block of West Broad Street at about 10 a.m. last Saturday, February 21. The suspect entered the building, brandished a weapon, demanded cash and then fled. More information will be released as it becomes available. Anyone with information should contact the City of Falls Church Police at 703-241-5053.

2 Water Mains Break in F.C. Monday A water main broke in the parking lot at a concrete plant on Gordon Road in Falls Church Monday afternoon resulting in a brief loss of water service to area customers. Fairfax Water public information officer Susan Miller confirmed the break to the News-Press and said that while Fairfax Water crews were on the scene, they were temporarily prevented from fixing the break due to activity at the cement plant there. Another main break Monday, on S. West Street, was also been repaired. Miller said that water service has been restored to all customers.

Saslaw Lethal Injection Bill Defeated A bill filed by State Sen. Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax/Falls Church) that would have added secrecy to the drugs used in Virginia’s lethal injection executions was defeated Tuesday afternoon in the House of Delegates. SB 1393 would have allowed the Department of Corrections to make and enter into contracts with an external entity to compound the drugs used to carry out lethal injection executions. However the Virginia Press Association opposed the bill for its secrecy provisions. The bill ensured that the information relating to the identity of the entity compounding the drugs, the identities of persons or entities engaged to manufacture or supply the materials used to compound drug products for use in the execution, and the name of the materials or components used to compound drug products are exempt from Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. Prior to the 56-42 vote to defeat the bill, according to the VPA, critics raised concerns about the secrecy provisions contained in it. Del. Rick Morris (R-Carrollton), said he supported the death penalty, but the issue was about transparent government. Del. Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax), filed a FOIA request with the state’s corrections department for records related to drugs, execution protocols and other issues. Surovell said the department denied his request, but a Fairfax County judge ordered the documents released. The department appealed and the state Supreme Court will take up the appeal by June. Saslaw argued that shielding the identity of companies compounding the drugs is necessary for safety. He also said that companies would not make these drugs if the public knew they were doing so.

Correction: Council Members at Meeting Falls Church City Council members Marybeth Connelly and Phil Duncan were in attendance at a February 11 PTA-sponsored forum on the upcoming budget year. A News-Press report that no Council members attended that meeting was in error.

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Community News & Notes F.C. Employee of the Year Nominations Due March 6 The City of Falls Church’s Human Resources Division is accepting nominations for the 2014 Employee of the Year award now through next Friday, March 6. “If you have observed an employee whom you feel merits consideration, please nominate them for this award,” said a blog post on the City government’s website announcing the opening of the nomination process. Nominations may not be submitted by the nominee themselves or by a member of the nominee’s immediate family. Appointed officials, elected officials and their employees, general managers and division directors are not eligible for the award. Eligibility for the award is open to all permanent full-time or parttime employees in the City’s per-

sonnel system, provided the initial probationary period has been successfully concluded. For information about the selection process, visit fallschurchva.gov/EOY.

Local Residents Slated to Perform at Large D.C. Venues Jonathan Modell and Gizelle Ruzany, a couple who live in Falls Church’s Winter Hill community, are slated to perform at large venues in Washington, D.C. over the next month. Modell, the drummer in the reggae band Nappy Riddem, is performing with his group at The Hamilton, located at 600 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C., this Saturday, Feb. 28 at 8:30 p.m. He and Nappy Riddem, who performed earlier this month at Vienna’s Jammin’ Java, will be opening the show for the funkrock outfit Big Something. For

more information about the Nappy Riddem show at The Hamilton, visit live.thehamiltondc.com. Ruzany, an adjunct professor in George Washington University’s dance department, will be premiering the hourlong show “Mind Fluctuation,” with the Maida Withers Dance Construction Company at the Lisner Auditorium on March 19 at 8 p.m. For more information, visit lisner.gwu.edu.

F.C. Residents Seeking Recipes for Local Cookbook Two Falls Church residents, Marie and Joan van Steyn, are seeking recipe submissions from Falls Church cooks for possible placement in a locally-based cookbook. Submissions should include the cook’s name, contact information, recipe and some background information about the dish.

THE FALLS CHURCH CITY REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE honored five local citizens yesterday at a reception at the Italian Cafe on Lee Highway. Holding their awards (l to r) are Margarette Shovlin, Lindy Hockenberry, Nikki Henderson (with her husband and co-award recipient, Ed) and Betty Coll. They are joined by (l to r) Falls Church GOP chairman Ken Feltman, Del. Marcus Simon, Falls Church City Commissioner of Revenue Tom Clinton and City Council member Phil Duncan. In front is first grader Ryan Behrens. (Photo: Courtesy of Ken Feltman)

The deadline for submissions is next Sunday, March 1, and a response with further contest details will be issued for each submission. Submissions can be sent to saucycooks15@gmail.com.

Cherry Hill Farmhouse Hosting Genealogy Talk The Cherry Hill Farmhouse at 312 Park Avenue is hosting a genealogy tea and talk for those intrigued by their family history on Sunday, March 22, from 1 – 3 p.m. Deane Dierksen will be discussing how to investigate ancestry and begin assembling a family tree. The Farmhouse is inviting guests of the talk to retire to the dining room to have tea, sandwiches, assorted sweets, warm scones and a bottomless cup of tea. Admission to the tea and talk is $35. For more information, visit cherryhillfallschurch.org.

Fairfax Co. Looking for Meals On Wheels Volunteers The Fairfax County government is looking for volunteer drivers for its Meals on Wheels services for older adults in and around Falls Church. The county is looking for drivers for its Vietnamese and Korean Meals on Wheels services in Falls Church. According to an e-mail from the county government, the Vietnamese Meals on Wheels volunteers need not speak Vietnamese, but they are looking for Korean-speaking drivers for its Korean Meals on Wheels services. They are also seeking drivers for Korean Meals on Wheels in Centreville and Annandale. The county is also looking for Meals on Wheels drivers in Chantilly and McLean. For information, visit fairfaxcounty.gov/ olderadults.

BRIAN CANNON, executive director of One Virginia 2021, an organization dedicated to “fair redistricting” of Congressional and state legislative boundaries in Virginia, spoke at a forum hosted by the Falls Church chapter of the League of Women Voters (LWV) at the Falls Church Community Center last Sunday. He used the projected image of Gollum from “The Lord of the Rings” to illustrate why elected legislators are unwilling to allow their districts to be redrawn. Cannon’s group, and the LWV favor an impartial process for redrawing the lines after every U.S. decade-ending census. (Photo: News-Press)

Send Us Your News & Notes!

The News-Press is always on the lookout for photos & items for Community News & Notes, School News & Notes and other sections of the paper. If you graduate, get married, get engaged, get an award, start a club, eat a club, tie your shoes, have a birthday, have a party, host an event or anything else you think is worth being mentioned in the News-Press, write it up and send it to us! If you have a photo, even better! Because of the amount of submissions we receive, we cannot guarantee all submissions will be published, but we’ll try our best!

Community News & Notes: newsandnotes@fcnp.com | School News & Notes: schoolnews@fcnp.com Mail: News & Notes, Falls Church News-Press, 200 Little Falls St. #508, Falls Church, VA 22046

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Northwest Arlington Lions Club Citrus Sale Starts Today

The Northwest Arlington Lions Club/Charities will be selling fresh Florida citrus, Georgia pecans and Vermont maple syrup at Overlee Pool’s Main Pump House, located at 6030 Lee Hwy., Arlington, today through Sunday. Sale hours are from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. on Thursday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Sunday. Sales will go to support the Northwest Arlington Lions Club’s community service projects. For more information, call 703-528-1130.

James Lee Black History Program Reschuled for Feb. 28 James Lee Community Center’s black history program “The Legacy Continues” has been rescheduled from last Saturday, Feb. 21, to this Saturday, Feb. 28, from 3 – 6 p.m. due to the snow storm on Saturday. The program will consist of a screening of the video “Life and Legacy,” followed by a performance by James Lee Community Center’s youth and teens. Light refreshments will follow the program. James Lee Community Center is located at 2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church. For more information, call 703-534-3387, ext. 200; TTY: 711 or visit fairfaxcounty.gov/ncs.

Former WWE Wrestler to Visit Tysons Barnes & Noble Former World Wresting Entertainment superstar and author Shawn Michaels will be doing a book signing at the Barnes & Noble at Tysons Corner Center, this Saturday, Feb. 28, from 1 – 3 p.m. Michaels will be signing his new book

Wrestling for Life: The Legend, the Reality, and the Faith of a WWE Superstar. Over the course of a wrestling career that spanned four decades, Michaels held many World Wrestling Entertainment titles, including the World Championship belt, the World Heavyweight Championship belt, Intercontinental Title belt and World Tag Team Championship belt. He currently hosts a hunting show on the Outdoor Channel called “Shawn Michaels MacMillan River Adventures.” In his new book, Michaels shares his experiences from his time in the World Wrestling Entertainment organization, along with stories of hunting, family and faith.

Boy Scout Troop 895 Mulch Sale Underway Boy Scout Troop 895, which is chartered by Falls Church Presbyterian Church, is currently holding its spring mulch sale. Each bag, which costs $5, contains hardwood bulk mulch, which is double-processed and packaged in three cubic-foot bags. The scouts will deliver the mulch free to customer’s homes on the weekend of April 10. The delivery area includes the City of Falls Church and areas of Fairfax and Arlington counties. For more information, e-mail Dave Forbes mulch@troop895.us or visit troop895.us.

Fisher Gallery Features ‘In and of the Land’ Until March 29 The Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall & Arts Center’s Margaret W. and Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery at the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College is featuring paintings by Clive Pates

AT MONDAY’S FALLS CHURCH CITY COUNCIL MEETING, members of the City Council posed with Boy Scout Troop 1537 prior to getting an update on new real estate assessments. (Photo: News-Press)

and ceramics by Virginia Rood Pates now through March 29. The exhibition, called “In and of the Land,” features work that relates on multiple levels – the relationship of the artists, the source material of a common landscape and a harmony of color and abstract form. According to a press release sent out about the exhibition, “Clive’s paintings are a perceptual record of their travels through the United States and Europe, while Virginia’s ceramics are constructed of the materials that created these same landscapes.” The Fisher Art Gallery is located on the upper level of the Schlesinger Center is open Monday – Friday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and during performances. For more information, visit nvcc. edu/schlesingercenter/gallery. html.

Are you 100% sure that if you died today, you will go to Heaven? 1. Realize that everyone is a sinner. INTERNATIONAL BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 11

2. Realize the penalty for sin. 3. Believe Christ died for you. 4. Trust Christ alone as your Savior. 5. Now pray and ask Jesus Christ to be your Savior. International Bible Baptist Church Phone: 571.277.3046 Website: ibbc-nova.com 6650 Arlington Blvd. | Falls Church, Virginia 22042

WALTER CRAIN, 50, stands next to a snow sculptures he made after the area’s latest snowstorm. Crain, who lives across from Beechtree Elementary School on Beechtree Lane in the Falls Church area of Fairfax County, makes sculptures like the one in the photo above everytime there’s a decent snowstorm, according to his neighbor Naz Sharif. (Photo: Courtesy of Naz Sharif)

YOUR LIFE. YOUR HEALTH. YOUR SMILE.

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DR. BASSEM EL-HAGE, DDS, PC FAMILY, COSMETIC & IMPLANT DENTISTRY 313 Park Avenue, Suite G-12, Falls Church, VA 22046 (703) 237-2932 | www.fallschurchdentistry.com

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The Hamilton Experience Every once in a while a piece of art brilliantly captures the glory, costs and ordeals of public life. Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” did that. And so does Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” now playing at The Public Theater in New York. The Public Theater seems hell bent on putting drama back in the center of the national conversation, and Miranda’s “Hamilton” is one of the most exhilarating experiences I’ve had in a theater. Each element in the show is a jewel, and the whole is bold, rousing, sexy, tear-jerking and historically respectful – the sort of production that strips things down and asks you to think afresh about your country and your life. It is a hip-hop musical about a Founding Father. If that seems incongruous, it shouldn’t. Like the quintesNEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE sential contemporary rappers, Alexander Hamilton was a poor immigrant kid from a broken home, feverish to rise and broadcast his voice. He was verbally blessed, combative, hungry for fame and touchy about his reputation. Like Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., he died in a clash of male bravado. The spirits of Tupac and Biggie waft through this musical; their genre the modern articulation of Hamilton’s clever and cocky assertiveness. The musical starts with the core fact about Hamilton and the strain of Americanism he represents: The relentless ambition of the outsider. He was effectively an orphan on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean. His mother died in the bed next to him. He was adopted by a cousin who committed suicide. Relentlessly efficient with his use of time and brilliant in the use of his pen, he made his name. The musical reveals the dappled nature of that ambition. Hamilton is captivating and energetic – a history-making man who thinks he can remake himself and his country. But he is also haunted by a desperate sense that he is racing against time. He has a reckless, out-of-control quality. In the biography, “Alexander Hamilton,” upon which the musical was based, Ron Chernow writes that Hamilton “always had to fight the residual sadness of the driven man.” That haunting loneliness is in this show, too. But Hamilton is not portrayed as ambition personified. The musical is structured around the rivalry between Hamilton and Aaron Burr, who is the crafty one, the utilitarian manipulator whose only ambition is to get inside the room where power is wielded. In real life and in the musical, Hamilton’s ambition was redeemed by his romanticism. He was more Lord Byron than Horatio Alger. Hamilton was romantic about virtue and glory. As a boy he read Plutarch and had an archaic belief that death could be cheated by the person who wins eternal fame. He sought to establish himself as a man of honor, who would live on in the mouths of those whose esteem was worth having. He was also romantic about his country. Miranda plays up Hamilton’s connection to New York, but Hamilton actually dedicated his life to the cause of America. He sought redemption in a national mission, personal meaning in a glory that would be realized by generations to come. He was also romantic about women, strong in his capacity for love. Hamilton communes with Angelica Schuyler, who is his intellectual equal. He marries her sister, Eliza Schuyler, who is not, but whose submerged strength comes out in adversity. But the boldest stroke in Miranda’s musical is that he takes on the whole life – every significant episode. He shows how the active life is inevitably an accumulation of battles, setbacks, bruises, scars, victories and humiliating defeats. Hamilton’s greatest foe, Thomas Jefferson, is portrayed brilliantly by the actor Daveed Diggs as a supremely gifted aristocrat who knows exactly how gifted he is. Hamilton assaulted Jefferson because he did not believe a country dominated by oligarchs could be a country in which poor boys and girls like him would have space to rise and grow. By the time he set off for his fatal duel, Hamilton was a damaged man. But he left behind a vision, albeit one that sits uncomfortably across today’s political divide. Unlike progressives, he believed in relatively unfettered finance and capitalism to arouse energy and increase social mobility. Unlike conservatives, he believed that government should actively subsidize mobility. Unlike populists of left and right, he believed in an aristocracy, though one based on virtue and work, not birth. He also left behind a spirit – the spirit of grand aspiration and national greatness. The cast at the Public Theater is mostly black and Latino, but it exudes the same strong ambition as this dead white man from centuries ago. America changes color and shape, but the spirit Hamilton helped bring to the country still lives. I suspect many people will leave the theater wondering if their own dreams and lives are bold enough, if their own lives could someday be so astounding.

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

David Brooks

Knowledge Isn’t Power Regular readers know that I sometimes mock “very serious people” – politicians and pundits who solemnly repeat conventional wisdom that sounds toughminded and realistic. The trouble is that sounding serious and being serious are by no means the same thing, and some of those seemingly tough-minded positions are actually ways to dodge the truly hard issues. The prime example of recent years was, of course, Bowles-Simpsonism – the diversion of elite discourse away from the ongoing tragedy of high unemployment and into the supposedly crucial issue of how, exactly, we will pay for social insurance programs a couple of decades from now. That particular obsession, I’m happy NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE to say, seems to be on the wane. But my sense is that there’s a new form of issue-dodging packaged as seriousness on the rise. This time, the evasion involves trying to divert our national discourse about inequality into a discussion of alleged problems with education. And the reason this is an evasion is that whatever serious people may want to believe, soaring inequality isn’t about education; it’s about power. Just to be clear: I’m in favor of better education. Education is a friend of mine. And it should be available and affordable for all. But what I keep seeing is people insisting that educational failings are at the root of still-weak job creation, stagnating wages and rising inequality. This sounds serious and thoughtful. But it’s actually a view very much at odds with the evidence, not to mention a way to hide from the real, unavoidably partisan debate. The education-centric story of our problems runs like this: We live in a period of unprecedented technological change, and too many American workers lack the skills to cope with that change. This “skills gap” is holding back growth, because businesses can’t find the workers they need. It also feeds inequality, as wages soar for workers with the right skills but stagnate or decline for the less educated. So what we need is more and better education. My guess is that this sounds familiar – it’s what you hear from the talking heads on Sunday morning TV, in opinion articles from business leaders like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, in “framing papers” from the Brookings Institution’s centrist Hamilton Project. It’s repeated so widely that many people probably

Paul Krugman

assume it’s unquestionably true. But it isn’t. For one thing, is the pace of technological change really that fast? “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters,” the venture capitalist Peter Thiel has snarked. Productivity growth, which surged briefly after 1995, seems to have slowed sharply. Furthermore, there’s no evidence that a skills gap is holding back employment. After all, if businesses were desperate for workers with certain skills, they would presumably be offering premium wages to attract such workers. So where are these fortunate professions? You can find some examples here and there. Interestingly, some of the biggest recent wage gains are for skilled manual labor – sewing machine operators, boilermakers – as some manufacturing production moves back to America. But the notion that highly skilled workers are generally in demand is just false. Finally, while the education/inequality story may once have seemed plausible, it hasn’t tracked reality for a long time. “The wages of the highestskilled and highest-paid individuals have continued to increase steadily,” the Hamilton Project says. Actually, the inflation-adjusted earnings of highly educated Americans have gone nowhere since the late 1990s. So what is really going on? Corporate profits have soared as a share of national income, but there is no sign of a rise in the rate of return on investment. How is that possible? Well, it’s what you would expect if rising profits reflect monopoly power rather than returns to capital. As for wages and salaries, never mind college degrees – all the big gains are going to a tiny group of individuals holding strategic positions in corporate suites or astride the crossroads of finance. Rising inequality isn’t about who has the knowledge; it’s about who has the power. Now, there’s a lot we could do to redress this inequality of power. We could levy higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and invest the proceeds in programs that help working families. We could raise the minimum wage and make it easier for workers to organize. It’s not hard to imagine a truly serious effort to make America less unequal. But given the determination of one major party to move policy in exactly the opposite direction, advocating such an effort makes you sound partisan. Hence the desire to see the whole thing as an education problem instead. But we should recognize that popular evasion for what it is: a deeply unserious fantasy.

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Missing the Point Of This Year’s Oscars

It seems to me that everybody is getting it totally wrong and missing the real point about this year’s Oscars. The best pictures of the past year, taken as a lot, are an incredible assemblage of cinematic excellence, deep social concern and an abiding, non-saccharin optimism. In this context, the most poignant award presented Sunday night went for the Best Documentary Film to “Citizenfour.” This is downright shocking, in a good way, and should signal to the powers-that-be that the best sensibilities of literate America are beginning to aim their formidable resources in a very interesting direction. Maybe for the snobbish professional critics of the “sin-e-mah” this doesn’t mean anything, but they seldom matter FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS for anything in terms of the real world. But the documentary award was brazenly given to a film that touts the efforts of Edward Snowden and his collaborators to unravel to the covert world of the Big Brother octopus, a frightening and hideous kraken, that has been allowed to entangle itself into the pours of society in the dark, in the name of “national security.” Snowden, whom many of the architects of this creature of a Brave New Fascist World call a traitor and worthy of death, was elevated by the Academy Awards people as a national hero, for crying out loud. Some may say this was done for the purpose of defusing the Snowden effect by absorbing, swallowing it up, as it were, into the existing social fabric. But if so, it was done as a rear-guard action, to tame the impact of the revelations that have come forth. The kraken remains alive and well in the meantime. But that is a cynical view that I chose to reject this time. Put it together with the other great films of this year – in particular “Selma,” “The Imitation Game,” “The Theory of Everything,” “Still Alice,” “Boyhood,” among other outstanding achievements – and their roaring social sensibilities, and you have a collective offering that is a cause for hope. It is also played out in the rejection of the film, “American Sniper,” which was treated as just another movie glamorizing war, as it turned out, and although nominated for Best Picture at an earlier stage in the process, was virtually shut out in the voting. No, this is not a time for touting war, even with its ugliness as a bi-product. It is also not a time for fantasy or science fiction. No more hobbits or Mr. Vaders for now, as entertaining as those were in an earlier time. It is a time for taking reality by the horns, for substituting science (as in the remarkable stories of the wisest physicist of our age, Stephen Hawking, and Alan Turing, who is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence) for science fiction, and for presenting us with painful, unfiltered images challenging us to find scientific cures for Alzheimer’s and ALS. We’re offered a different way of winning a war, not by macho battlefield assassins, but by a nerdy scientist, a homosexual who, according to the closing credits, is estimated to have saved (not taken, but saved) 14 million lives and shortened World War II by four years through his ability to crack the Nazi code. We’re given a glance into our nation’s own recent history, when proud legions of African-Americans led by the immortal Dr. Martin Luther King, stood up against brutal prejudice and its angry, violent force to cross that bridge in Selma, Alabama, just 50 years ago. Just 50 years! Can you believe it? Some will argue that all the problems addressed in these mighty films are still with us: incurable disease, wars and their perpetual mongers, cruel anti-homosexual prejudice and persistent racism. But we’re not where we were on that day in Selma, on any of those fronts. Those who can’t see the progress that has occurred cannot bring out the best in themselves to play it forward now. This year’s best movies have exhibited the power to stir us toward a better tomorrow, and to wrest from the gnarled hands of the elites who are trying to install a new totalitarianism with a force such as they have never imagined.

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 13

Nicholas F. Benton

 Nicholas Benton may be emailed at nfbenton@fcnp.com.

Jeb Bush’s Brainless Trust WASHINGTON - I had been keeping an open mind on Jeb Bush. I mean, sure, as Florida governor, he helped his brother snatch the 2000 election. And that led to two decade-long botched wars that cost tens of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. The nation will be dealing for a long time with struggling veterans and the loss of American prestige. Not to mention that W. let Wall Street gamble away the economy, which is only now finally creeping back. But, all that aside, shouldn’t John Ellis Bush have the right to make the case that he is his own man? In his foreign policy speech in Chicago last Wednesday, Jeb was dismissive toward those who want to know where he stands in relation to his father and brother. “In fact,” he said, mockingly, “this is a great, fascinating thing in the political world for some reason.” For some reason? Like the Clintons, the Bushes drag the country through national traumas that spring from their convoluted family dynamic and then disingenuously wonder why we concern ourselves with NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE their family dynamic. Without their last names, Hillary and Jeb would not be front-runners, buoyed by networks of donors grateful for appointments or favors bestowed by the family. The last two presidents in Jeb’s party were his father and brother, and his brother crashed the family station wagon into the globe, and Jeb is going to have to address that more thoroughly than saying “there were mistakes made in Iraq for sure.” He says he doesn’t want to focus on “the past,” and who can blame him? But how can he talk about leading America into the future if he can’t honestly assess the past, or his family’s controversial imprint? In his speech, he blamed President Barack Obama for the void that hatched ISIS, which he also noted didn’t exist in 2003 at the dawn of “the liberation of Iraq.” Actually, his brother’s invasion of Iraq is what spawned al-Qaida in Iraq, which drew from an insurgency of Sunni soldiers angry about being thrown out of work by the amateurish and vainglorious viceroy, Paul Bremer. Although Jeb likes to act as though his family is irrelevant to his ambitions, Bushworld stalwarts recite the Bush dynasty narrative like a favorite fairy tale: The wonky Jeb, not the cocky W., was always 41’s hope. H.W. and Bar never thought W., unprepared, unruly and with a chip on his shoulder, would be

Maureen Dowd

president. His parents’ assumption that he was The One got in Jeb’s head and now the 62-year-old feels he needs “to try to correct and make up for some of W.’s mistakes,” as one family friend put it. So for Bushworld, Jeb is the redeemer, the one who listens and talks in full sentences that make sense, the one who will restore the luster of the Bush name. But if you want to be your own person, you have to come up with your own people. W. was a boy king, propped up by regents supplied by his father. Since he knew nothing about foreign affairs, his father surrounded him with his own advisers: Colin Powell, Condi Rice and Dick Cheney, who joined up with his pal Donald Rumsfeld and absconded with W.’s presidency. Jeb, too, wanted to bolster his negligible foreign policy cred, so the day of his speech, his aide released a list of 21 advisers, 19 of whom had worked in the administrations of his father and his brother. The list starts with the estimable James Baker. But then it shockingly veers into warmongers. It’s mind-boggling, but there’s Paul Wolfowitz, the unapologetic designer of the doctrine of unilateralism and pre-emption, the naïve cheerleader for the Iraq invasion and the man who assured Congress that Iraqi oil would pay for the country’s reconstruction and that it was ridiculous to think we would need as many troops to control the country as Gen. Eric Shinseki, then the Army chief of staff, suggested. There’s John Hannah, Cheney’s national security adviser (cultivated by the scheming Ahmed Chalabi), who tried to stuff hyped-up junk on Saddam into Powell’s U.N. speech and who harbored bellicose ambitions about Iran; Stephen Hadley, who let the false 16-word assertion about Saddam trying to buy yellowcake in Niger into W.’s 2003 State of the Union; Porter Goss, the former CIA director who defended waterboarding. Jeb is also getting advice from Condi Rice, queen of the apocalyptic mushroom cloud. And in his speech he twice praised a supporter, Henry Kissinger, who advised prolonging the Vietnam War, which the Nixon White House thought might help with the 1972 election. Why not bring back Scooter Libby? If he wants to reclaim the Bush honor, Jeb should be holding accountable those who inflicted deep scars on America, not holding court with them. Where’s the shame? For some reason, Jeb doesn’t see it.

PAGE 14 | FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015

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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

A Penny for Your Thoughts

News of Greater Falls Church By Supervisor Penny Gross

Fairfax County Executive Ed Long presented his Billion from the General Fund. Schools have asked proposed FY2016 budget last week, kicking off the for an additional $14 million, which is not funded in lengthy annual exercise that reviews and revises pri- his budget. However, recent positive improvements orities and services for all Fairfax County residents in the state’s budget may provide more state funding and businesses. In his presentation to the Board on a to the school system’s pension system for teachers. day when, ironically, county offices were closed due Compensation increases for county employees are to a blizzard, Mr. Long noted that residential assess- recommended at half of what was agreed to in a ments are growing at half the rate of last year, and new compensation plan adopted last fall. More work commercial assessments are decreasing more rapidly needs to be done to implement the compensation than last year. The resulting reduced revenue means plan for employees. Another area of concern is a need to strengthen that we cannot fund all our priorities and investthe county’s reserve funds. The Board has established ments, he said. By law, Fairfax County’s budget must balance; two general reserves, the Managed Reserve and the the county cannot run a deficit. Mr. Long’s proposed Revenue Stabilization Fund, which together are budget maintains the current real property tax rate of equal to five percent of General Fund disbursements. $1.09 per $100 valuation, and makes reductions to However, the rating agencies and the Government programs and personnel, as well as deferring criti- Finance Officers Association recommend a minical infrastructure investments. Many Mason District mum of two months, or 16.7 percent of operating neighborhoods are seeing an increase in home val- revenues or expenditures. Henrico County maintains ues, reflecting a moderate sales market for housing a 15 percent fund balance policy, Loudoun County in our area. Interestingly, some condominiums in is 10 percent, and Montgomery County, Maryland Mason District rebounded by nearly 25 percent is also at 10 percent. One of the tasks for the Board this year, after several years of significant declines. is to develop a strategy for increasing reserves, and Countywide, residential equalization is 3.39 percent, maintaining our AAA bond rating. The Mason District Budget Town Meeting will be down from last year’s high of 6.54 percent, which was the highest since the “boom” years of 2006 and held on Thursday, March 19, at 7 p.m., at the Mason 2007. Overall, fewer houses were sold in calendar District Governmental Center, 6507 Columbia Pike, year 2014, and homes stayed on the market for an in Annandale. County Executive Ed Long will disaverage of 45 days, up from the 37-day average in cuss his proposed budget, followed by a question 2013. Office vacancy rates continue to be high, due and answer period. The proposed budget may be in many cases to the continuing effects of sequestra- reviewed online at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget.  Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor, in tion and federal cuts in defense spending. Mr. Long’s proposed budget increases the transfer the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be 5.6875emailed in at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov. to schools by three percent, or a total of more thanT:$2

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McCarthyist Tactics

Rudy Giuliani entered McCarthyist territory with his grotesque personal attack on President Barack Obama’s patriotism. Speaking to a hardcore Republican crowd, New York City’s former mayor said: “I know this is a horrible thing to say. But I do not believe that the president loves America.” Giuliani is 100 percent right. What he said was horrible, yet he said it anyway, which makes Giuliani a horrible human being. By uttering such defamatory words he instantly went from America’s Mayor to America’s Mooncalf. While Giuliani’s insults may have thrilled the Republican base, they turned out to be baseless. The New York Times listed several occasions where the President smooched with America. For example, in a key Obama stump speech the president repeatedly said that the United States is “the greatest democratic, economic, and military force for freedom and human dignity the world has ever known….I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.” The list of examples goes on and on, but facts mean nothing to Fox News knuckleheads. Apparently, Giuliani also thinks he is the sole owner of 9/11, and he continues to shamelessly exploit this tragedy. In his warped view, he is the only person on earth who was impacted on that awful day. It’s only a matter of time before he gets a trademark for 9/11 – so he can sue you if you decide to talk about the incident without his prior approval. Giuliani has tumbled down from the mountain and now resides in depths of the sewer with Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Ted Nugent, those other fallen right wing nitwits who have surrendered all credibility. I was living in Washington, D.C. on September 11. I worked only a few blocks from the White House. When terrorists hit the second World Trade Center building, it was bedlam in D.C. The Pentagon had also been hit, right across the Potomac River. I remember walking on Connecticut Avenue to my Dupont Circle home. There was a storefront that sold televisions. People from all political persuasions gathered around in a state of panic. The fear, anger, and grief, was a shared national experience that had little to do with that blowhard, Rudy Giuliani. What I’m going to say now may be controversial. Out of genuine concern for his mental health, I wonder if Giuliani may have been psychologically damaged by the 9/11 experience? Was the stress simply too much and he cracked? Did he get too close to Ground Zero’s toxic fumes? Because, let’s be honest, ever since his encounter with 9/11 he’s been a little “off.” A trip to Bellevue for a head exam is probably a healthy option. Interestingly, Wisconsin governor and presidential hopeful Scott Walker was on hand for Giuliani’s remarks. He steadfastly refused to condemn them, lest he offend Iowa’s Crackpot Caucus. This was a mistake that will cost him dearly with moderates if he’s lucky enough to win the GOP nomination. While most Republicans either stayed silent or deflected the question, King Tea Bagger, Glenn Beck, actually backed Giuliani. “I don’t think he [Obama] loves America, I think he likes America…” You have to read between the lines. The Republican Party has been tearing down the Middle Class and running roughshod over the poor. They disguise the damage they have done by wrapping their actions in the flag. Conservatives consistently attack those who legitimately critique this country as unpatriotic, because once Americans start analyzing what’s happened since the election of Ronald Reagan – they are going to turn on the GOP. The Republicans are not a Party, but a Ponzi Scheme that represents a number of failed ideas held together by the glue of prejudice and Wall Street. They hate campaign finance reform because they need oodles of cash to fund their Big Lie. This is why they have conflated “Free Speech” with “Fee Speech,” where the highest bidder has the most access and impact on our political system. Giuliani was not the only conservative to hit Obama below the belt. Conservative provocateur and convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza criticized Obama for using a long selfie-stick to take a photograph. He tweeted a photo of Obama with a message in all caps, “You can take the boy out of the ghetto… Watch this vulgar man show his stuff, while America cowers in embarrassment.” D’Souza used “boy” and “ghetto” in the same tweet. No, the Republican opposition to the president has nothing to do with race, they insist. Notice how these so-called patriotic America-lovers have no qualms about degrading the office of the President of the United States. Yeah, they really love America. Their actions speak so much louder than their words.

Wayne Besen

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Our Man in Arlington By Charlie Clark

Lots of historic change unfolding in Arlington’s Nauck neighborhood, most of it witnessed upclose over six decades by Leonard “Doc” Muse. January a year ago the County Board honored Muse – the seven-day-a-week proprietor of the Green Valley Pharmacy since 1952 – with an historic designation. This November, it held a ceremony to install a marker for a new historic district, describing his workaday site as “the county’s longest continuously operating African American-owned pharmacy.” Muse’s shop looks out on the coming grant-funded public art project on the square of the historically black neighborhood at Shirlington Road and South 24th. Muse, age 91, is hard to get a hold of owing to his work schedule. But when I popped in a few months back with visitors from the D.C. Historical Society, he emerged to greet us. We noticed the free bread that his pharmacy offers customers and needy passers-by. “We have bread whenever a truck drops it off, from different companies,” he told me recently. Born in Del Ray Beach, Fla., Muse came to Washington in 1944

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 15

to study pharmacy at Howard University. With classmate Waverly Jones in 1952, he opened the store to serve blacks who because of segregation had little access to prescription drug stores such as People’s (at least not through the front door). They took over the building that had been Hyman’s Grocery. “Green Valley served both black and white customers,” the historic designation reads, “and it was especially popular for its dine-in food counter, where breakfast, lunch, dinner and an abundance of ice cream desserts were served. In the early days, an order of two hot dogs cost just 25 cents.” The route was not all romantic. Many blacks assumed his products were inferior. As desegregation in Arlington eased, drug dealers drifted in. Muse told Washington Post reporter Patricia Sullivan that police suspected him of being in cahoots, wiretapping his pharmacy even though Muse never hesitated to summon police. To avoid suspicions he was selling alcohol to teens or unauthorized medicine to addicts, he stocked such products behind the counter. At one point, violence prompted him to keep a gun. These days, Muse dons his white coat and works 7 a.m. to

C i t y o f Fa l l s C h u r c h

CRIME REPORT Week of February 16 - 22, 2015 Commercial Burglary, 6795 Wilson Blvd. #2 (Café Gio) On Feb. 16, an unknown suspect forced entry and stole cash from the location. Vandalism, 6795 Wilson Blvd. (Eden Center) On Feb. 16, an unknown person attempted to pry an ATM machine open. Commercial Burglary, 6795 Wilson Blvd. #26 On Feb. 16, an unknown person forced entry and stole merchandise. Larceny from Building, 935 W. Broad St. (Taco Bell) On Feb. 16, police received a report that an unknown suspect stole an unattended iPhone. Larceny from Building, 116 Hillwood Ave. (Anime Pavilion) On Feb. 16, police received a

report that unattended trading cards were stolen. Larceny from Building, 225 E. Broad St. (Falls Church Presbyterian Church) On Feb. 18, police received a report of gift cards stolen from the building. Commercial Burglary, 400 N. Washington St. #205 (VISAHQ) On Feb. 19, an unknown suspect

9 p.m. daily, with an hour off Sundays, working alongside his pharmacist granddaughter. He paid little attention to the recent fanfare – all the testimony from neighbors celebrating his quiet contributions. The ceremony unveiling the plaque drew family and customers along with community members and civic leaders, among them the head of the Arlington Chapter NAACP, the assistant dean of today’s Howard College of Pharmacy and Nauck Civic Association president Alfred Taylor Jr. “We can’t forget to honor the bridge-builders,” Taylor said. “This once-neglected community is now one of our most diversified. And Doc was a role model for kids who aspire to higher education.” Nauck itself, however, doesn’t stay still. This month the County Board will make a final decision on a developer’s proposal to raze the George Washington Carver Homes on South Rolfe, the last remaining homes built for African-Americans who lost out when the Pentagon went up in the early 1940s. Muse told me he was honored by the historic designation of his shop, but honestly, he said, “I haven’t seen any difference yet. I’m waiting for Nauck’s clientele to change, banking on more affluent customers, of more races.”

forced entry and stole televisions from the property. Public Drunkenness, 400 block S. Washington St. On Feb. 19, a male, 36, of Falls Church, was arrested for Public Drunkenness. Burglary, 500 block Hillwood Ave. On Feb. 20, an unknown suspect forced entry into a garage and stole several items. Robbery, 1118 W. Broad St. (Apple Federal Credit Union) On Feb. 21, the suspect entered the building, brandished a weapon, demanded cash, then fled.

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PAGE 16 | FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015

Community Events

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26

Preschool Storytime. Stories, ﬁnger plays and songs for children ages 2 – 5 on Monday and Thursday every week. Mary Riley Styles Public Library’s Youth Services Room (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). Free. 10:30 – 11 a.m. & 3 – 3:30 p.m. 703-248-5034. Early Literacy Center. Explore educational and manipulative items to teach early literacy through play on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday every week. This program is for ages birth to 5 years. No registration required. Mary Riley Styles Public Library’s Youth Services Room (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). Free. 11 a.m. – noon. & 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. 703-248-5034. Teen Knitting Club. Knitters of all skill levels in grades 6 – 12 meet to share projects or tips and learn how to knit. Scrap yarn and needles available for beginners. Registration required. Limited to 15 participants. Mary Riley Styles Public Library’s Youth Services Room (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). Free. 7:30 p.m. 703-2485034.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28

F.C. Farmers’ Market. Vendors oﬀer fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables, cheeses, meats, baked

goods, plants, and wine. City Hall Parking Lot (300 Park Ave., Falls Church). Free. 9 a.m. – noon. 703248-5077. Book Sale. Find great bargains and help support the library’s programs and services by purchasing books, CDs, DVDs and comic books at the Mary Riley Styles Public Library Book Sale. Mary Riley Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 703-2485034. Midwinter Musings. The Washington Sinfonietta, under the baton of guest conductor Stephen Czarkowski, will perform Beethoven’s Fidelio overture, Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 (Amy Beth Horman, soloist), and Haydn’s Symphony No. 104. A reception with complimentary refreshments will follow the concert. The Falls Church Episcopal (115 E. Fairfax St., Falls Church). Free – $20. 7:30 p.m. washington-sinﬁonetta.org.

SUNDAY, MARCH 1

Book Sale. Find great bargains and help support the library’s programs and services by purchasing books, CDs, DVDs and comic books at the Mary Riley Styles Public Library Book Sale. Mary Riley Styles Public

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Send community event submissions to the News-Press by e-mail at calendar@fcnp. com; fax 703-342-0347; or by regular mail to 200 Little Falls St., #508, Falls Church, VA 22046. Please include any photos or artwork with submissions. Deadline is Monday at noon for each week’s edition.

Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). 1 – 5 p.m. 703-248-5034. Choralis Concert. Choralis presents an all-Mozart concert, with chamber orchestra, including his Requiem as well as Exsultate, Jubilate, K. 165, for soprano, and Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488. Dr. Ben Arnold will give a pre-concert lecture at 4 p.m. Free parking. The Falls Church Episcopal (115 E. Fairfax St., Falls Church). Free – $45. 5 p.m. choralis.org.

MONDAY, MARCH 2

Winter Reading Program Ends. This is the last day for readers ages ﬁve and under to record the books they’ve read this winter. Mary Riley Styles Public Library’s Youth Services Room (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). Free. All day. 703-248-5034.

TUESDAY, MARCH 3

Preschool Storytime. Stories, ﬁnger plays and songs for children ages 18 – 36 months every Tuesday. Mary Riley Styles Public Library’s Youth Services Room (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). Free. 10:30 – 11 a.m. 703-248-5034. F.C. Garden Club Program. Mary Kirk Menefee, a landscape designer at Merriﬁeld Garden Center, will present a program called “Plants with Winter

Interest,” at the Falls Church Garden Club meeting. Falls Church Community Center (223 Little Falls St., Falls Church). Free. 7:30 p.m. 703-248-5077.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4

NARFE Meeting. Vee Johnson of Fairfax County Consumer affairs will offer ways to protect your personal privacy at a meeting of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. Mason District Government Center (6507 Columbia Pike, Annandale). Free. 10 a.m. 703-980-6831. Early Release Wednesdays: String Games. Learn how to play fun string games like Cat’s Cradle. For children in kindergarten – 5th grade. Registration required. Limited to 15 participants. Mary Riley Styles Public Library’s Youth Services Room (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). Free. 3 p.m. 703-248-5034. International Dinner. George Mason High School’s International Club will host the annual International Dinner, sponsored by Mason’s Parent-TeacherStudent Association and ESOL/ Foreign Language staff. George Mason High School (7124 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043) Free. 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. garciah@fccps.org.

Theater Fine Arts THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26

“Choir Boy.” Tarrell Alvin McCraney wrote and Kent Gash is directing this music-�illed production about masculinity, tradition, coming of age and honesty. The school has a tradition of preparing young black men for leadership roles in society, but times and �inances have changed, and the pressure on the school’s gospel choir is high. So when Pharus, an ambitious and talented student, is told to ignore a gay slur to take his place as the choir’s leader, he has to decide who he is and what he’s willing to �ight for. Through March 1. Studio Theatre (1501 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C). $20 – $68. 8 p.m. studiotheatre.org.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27

“Kid Victory.” Luke, a seventeen-year-old, returns home after vanishing a year before in the world

premiere of this musical from composer John Kander and playwright Greg Pierce. Profoundly altered by his time away from home, Luke and his parents struggle to adjust to life following his disappearance and homecoming. Through March 22. Signature Theatre (4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington). $36.80 – $80.35. 8 p.m. signature-theatre.org.

“Turn of the Screw.” This is the premiere of Matt Conner and Stephen Gregory Smith’s musical adaptation of Henry James’ gothic novella. Miss Giddens is a sensitive young governess who believes that her young charges are being manipulated by evil forces. The production is the �irst installment of a �ive-year commissioning project called “Bold New Works for Intimate Stages.” Through March 1. ArtSpace Falls Church (410 S. Maple Ave., Falls Church). $22 – $25. 8 p.m. creativecauldron.org.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28 “The Little Mermaid, Jr.” Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School is presenting a musical performance of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid, Jr.” that was rescheduled from the Saturday, Feb. 21 performance that was cancelled due to inclement weather. $8. 7 p.m. Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School (7130 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church). fccps.org/MEH.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25

“Much Ado About Nothing.” Benedick, a bachelor, and the equally-spirited and single Beatrice spar, court and conspire in 1950’s Las Vegas in Synetic Theater’s 11th Wordless Shakespeare adaptation, which follows Synetic’s production of “Twelfth Night.” Through March 22. Synetic Theater (1800 S. Bell St., Arlington). $10. 8 p.m. synetictheater.org.

CA L E NDA R

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

live_music&nightlife THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26 J�� E�� B�� B�� C��. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E., Vienna). $15 – $20 in advance. $18 – $20 day of the show. 7 p.m. 703255-1566. B�� T�� R�� B�� C��. Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $10. 8 p.m. 202-667-4490. D�� C�� B�� B�� S��. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 8:30 p.m. 703-241-9504. B�� T��. Iota Club and Cafe (2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). $10. 8:30 p.m. 703-522-8340.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27 G�� J�� M�� C��. Clare and Don’s Beach Shack (130 N. Washington St., Falls Church). 7 p.m. 703-532-9283. J��’ J��’� M��-A�� B�� B�� F�� A�� C��, C�� H��, L�� B�� P�� S�� D��. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E., Vienna). $12 – $15 in advance. $15 day of the show. 7 p.m. 703255-1566. M�� + T�� M�� S�� P��. The Birchmere (3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria). $65. 7:30 p.m. 703-549-7500. J�� E�� T�� C��. Wolf Trap (1645 Trap Road, Vienna). $25 – $27. 8 p.m. 703-255-1900. W�� J��. JV’s Restaurant (6666

Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 9:30 p.m. 703-241-9504.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28 40 D�� F�� B��. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 4:30 p.m. 703-241-9504. LB2. Clare and Don’s Beach Shack (130 N. Washington St., Falls Church). 6 p.m. 703-532-9283. N��. The Birchmere (3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria). $45. 7:30 p.m. 703-549-7500. T�� P�� H�� D�� L�� S��-R�� S��. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E., Vienna). $10 – $15 in advance. $13 – $15 day of the show. 7:30 p.m. 703-255-1566. R�� E��. 9:30 (815 V St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $27. 8 p.m. 202265-0930. B�� S��’� F�� N��. Wolf Trap (1645 Trap Road, Vienna). $24. 8 p.m. 703-255-1900. T�� T�� R�� L�� B��. Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $15 in advance. $18 day of the show. 9 p.m. 202-667-4490. K�� S�� T�� D�� Z��. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 9:15 p.m. 703241-9504.

SUNDAY, MARCH 1 A�� A�� B��. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 4 p.m. 703-241-9504. A�� R�� R�� S��

DJ A��. 9:30 (815 V St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $20. 7 p.m. 202265-0930. T�� B�� I�� 50�� A�� T��. The Birchmere (3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria). $75. 7:30 p.m. 703-549-7500. E� Q�� T�� E� R�� K�� G�� T�� D��. Iota Club and Cafe (2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). $10. 7:30 p.m. W��. Blues Alley (1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.). $25. 8 p.m. 202-337-4141. J�� S��. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E., Vienna). $10 – $15. 8:30 p.m. 703-255-1566. A�� H�� T�� A��-S��. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 8:30 p.m. 703241-9504.

MONDAY, MARCH 2 L�� S�� J�� F��. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E., Vienna). $15 – $20. 7 p.m. 703-2551566. B�� H�� C�� A��. The Birchmere (3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria). $55. 7:30 p.m. 703-549-7500. BLKKATHY �� . Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $12. 7:30 p.m. 202-667-4490. S��. Blues Alley (1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.). $20. 8 p.m. 202-337-4141. W�� B�� J��. JV’s Restaurant

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 17

(6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 8:30 p.m. 703-241-9504. A�� S�� C�� S�� S��. Iota Club and Cafe (2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). $10. 8:30 p.m. 703-522-8340. I�� T�� T�� L�� L��. Galaxy Hut (2711 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). $5. 9 p.m.

TUESDAY, MARCH 3 G�� F�� P�� A�� T.V. 9:30 (815 V St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $30. 7 p.m. 202-265-0930. B�� H�� C�� A��. The Birchmere (3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria). $55. 7:30 p.m. 703-549-7500. ELEL �� A��. Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $12. 7:30 p.m. 202-667-4490. B�� T�� B��. Blues Alley (1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.). $20. 8 p.m. 202337-4141. JV’� B�� J��. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 8 p.m. 703-241-9504.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4 R�� M�� S�� N��. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E., Vienna). $20 – $25. 7 p.m. 703-2551566. T�� J�� H�� T��. Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.). $20. 7:30 p.m. 202-667-4490. G�� S��. The Birchmere (3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria). $35. 7:30 p.m. 703-549-7500.

P�� A��... Saturday, March 6 – Employee of the Year Nominations Due. The Falls Church Human

he longest running stand-up showcase at The Wonderland Ballroom in Columbia Heights, Don’t Block the Box brings some of D.C.’s best stand-up comedians together for an evening of funny. So ditch The Little City for one night and get your laugh on this Friday as host Reggie Melbrough leads the show featuring comics Chelsea Shorte, Dana Fleitman, Curt Mariah, Christine Ferrera and Natalie McGill. All this hilarity comes cheap, too. Tickets are available for just $3 at the door.

What: Don’t Block the Box at The Wonderland Ballroom When: Friday, February 27, 7:30 p.m. Where: The Wonderland Ballroom

1101 Kenyon St. NW, Washington, DC For more info, call 208-861-9706 or visit thewonderlandballroom.com

Resources Division is accepting nominations for the 2014 “Employee of the Year” award. For more information about the nomination process, see page 10, and visit the City’s website. Falls Church City Hall (300 Park Ave., Falls Church). fallschurchva. gov/EOY. 703-248-5127.

Saturday, March 14 – Town Hall: FY2016 Budget. Falls Church City’s City Manager

Wyatt Shields will make a presentation and answer questions on the proposed ﬁscal year 2016 budget. Falls Church City Hall 2nd Floor (223 Little Falls St., Falls Church). fallschurchva.gov/Budget. 703-248-5014.

C�� S�� 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: 200 Little Falls St., #508, Falls Church, VA 22046

PAGE 18 | FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015

FO O D &D I NI NG

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Restaurant Spotlight

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Bakeshop 1025 N. Fillmore St., Arlington 571-970-6460 • bakeshopva.com Monday – Thursday: 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Friday: 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Sunday: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

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Cupcakeries and bakeries have boomed in the last five or so years, just as unconventionally traditional fast-casual restaurants have trended upward in the last decade. From Georgetown Cupcake and Baked and Wired in Georgetown to Sticky Fingers in Columbia Heights to Red Velvet just south of Chinatown in D.C., small haunts practicing the art of confectionery have popped all over the region. And these aren’t the bakeries of old, with family or geographic region names at the fore and sweets housed in glass shelving units – these are hip(ster?) bakeries. Bakeshop, in Arlington’s Clarendon neighborhood, is one of these new school bakeries, with novelties past generations couldn’t have even dreamt up. Maybe it’s because the owner, Justin Stegall, learned to bake the old-fashioned way: from his family, his mother to be exact. But then his love for baking took him to Brooklyn, where he polished off his homespun skills at Baked, where they have treats like the Bombay Mix cookie and the Grasshopper brownie. Then, after moving back to Virginia and distributing his sweets online and through other stores, Stegall opened Bakeshop five years ago, on the front end of the bakery trend. And Bakeshop’s selection of cakes, cupcakes, macarons and other treats have helped the shop stand out among the region’s top bakeries. One of the features that helps Bakeshop stand out is that it has a dedicated vegan menu. A lot of other bakeries in the region have vegan treats here and there, but Bakeshop, while it doesn’t always have all of the vegan options on its menu, always has at least three or four vegan options. Let’s start with Bakeshop’s vegan cupcakes, which costs $2.50 a piece, $12.50 for a half dozen and $25 for a dozen. The shop’s cakes are moist and velvety and sticky enough to leave crumbs on your fingers. And this writer isn’t too proud lick his fingers clean. Bakeshop’s chocolate cupcake is lighter than most chocolate cakes, which is a good thing in my opinion, and comes with a dollop of vanilla icing. Bakeshop’s red velvet cupcakes are great, too. Although the shop’s vegan cupcake menu is conventional, the non-vegan cupcake menu has unique offerings – cupcakes with Nerds, 7-Up cupcakes and Twix cupcakes. Bakeshop’s standout cookie is the salty oat apricot ($1.75) – it’s sweet and earthy with salty undertones. Some sweets with salt are too salty, but Bakeshop gets it right with the salty oat apricot cookie. Other non-vegan cookies that intrigue me include the spicy gingersnap cookie and the browned butter chocolate chunk. Bakeshop also does chipwiches ($5.50), which are simultaneously guilt-provoking and heavenly. The cherry chocolate chunk chipwich, with cherry ice cream and chocolate chunks in between two chocolate chip cookies, is sweet and rich, but not too rich. Many of Bakeshop’s confections are traditional, or remixes of traditional treats, but the shop has one treat that this writer has never heard of: Oreo in a Blanket ($2.75). These sweets, with an Oreo baked into a chocolate chip cookie, have the potential to give Bakeshop national recognition.

— Drew Costley

SPO RTS

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 19

March

Sund

Aesop Rock 9:30 8 p.m. 815 V St. NW, Washington, D.C.

202-265-0930 • 930.com

Mond

Langhorne Slim with Jonny Fritz Jammin’ Java 7 p.m. 227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna

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BLKKATHY with lowercase letters Black Cat 7:30 p.m. 1811 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.

202-667-7960 • blackcatdc.com

day

Tues

BY DREW COSTLEY

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS

Stand-up comedian and juggler Chris Bliss grew up in the nation’s capital, so he knows about the importance of the rule of law, power of ideas and monuments. That’s why he’s trying to get a monument to the Bill of Rights built in every state capital. “I think we should invest in these ideas. It’s not curing cancer, it’s not feeding the poor, but in the end, all progress comes from great ideas” Bliss said. “And when you have these founding ideas, the more you celebrate them, the more you implement them, the more they’re part of the subtext of the governance and civic life of the country, I think the better off we’re going to be. “It’s a little high concept, but, if you break it down, it’s very simple.” In his effort to help accomplish that goal, Bliss put together a slate of comedians – Dick Gregory, Tom Smothers, Lewis Black, John Fugelsang and others – who have challenged society’s status quo throughout their careers for the “Let Freedom Laugh Tour,” which comes to the Warner Theatre this Saturday, Feb. 28. “If I were to say why I’m really doing this, I believe in the power of ideas,” Bliss told the News-Press from his office in Austin, Texas. “And great comedy is a great vehicle for powerful ideas.” Funds raised through the comedy benefit show will go to MyBillofRights.org, which Bliss founded to promote an awareness and respect for the freedoms and principles guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The first of these shows went down in Phoenix, where Bliss lived for a while before moving to Austin, in 2012 and raised $125,000 toward a Bill of Rights monument that was built at the Arizona Capitol later that year. The idea of putting a monument in Arizona’s state capital occurred to Bliss over ten years ago when he read about a controversy over a move

CHRIS BLISS (C�� P��) to put a monument to the Ten Commandments in the Alabama state judicial building. He started saying in his comedy routine at the time that instead of arguing over whether or not to build the monument that we should put a display of the Bill of Rights next to the Ten Commandments “and let people comparison shop.” Now his goal to get a Bill of Rights monument built in every state capital is gaining momentum. The show at the Warner Theatre is being filmed as part of a special that will air on Mark Cuban’s AXS TV in April, which will feature Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, Marlon Wayans and Penn Jillette along with the comedians on the tour. Bliss said that this isn’t only “a big push” for the Bill of Rights monument project, but “to get people talking about what our best ideas and ideals are.”

“The monument park in Arizona – where our Bill of Rights monument is – it has somewhere close to 30 different war memorials in it,” Bliss said. “And everybody, including myself, thinks these people should be honored for their sacrifice and every Veteran’s Day we hear the same phrase: they died for our freedom. “But we rarely stop and think what it emanates from, and it emanates from the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. So I was very proud to put the first Bill of Rights monument right next to the Vietnam Memorial that’s in the park in Arizona because yes they died for our freedom and this is where it comes, so let’s celebrate that and not just the sacrifice.” • For more information about Chris Bliss, visit chrisbliss.com.

Gang of Four 9:30

These singles whet the appetites of the FCNP editorial team this week:

7 p.m. 815 V St. NW, Washington, D.C.

202-265-0930 • 930.com

 Nicholas Benton – That’s Amore by Dean Martin 

Jody Fellows – The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) by Simon and Garfunkel 

Drew Costley – Glory by Common & John Legend

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MASON’S WIND ENSEMBLE rehearses for the District Assessment at Edison High School on March 6 by performing a clinic concert with retired director Mary Ulrey. The band will perform three required selections for three adjudicators from different universities as well as sightread music for ratings at the competition. (P��: C�� A�� A��)

George Mason International Dinner Slated for March 4 George Mason High School’s annual International Dinner will be held next Wednesday, March 4, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. in the school’s Mustang Cafe, located at 7130 Leesburg Pike. The dinner, an evening of family fun, food and entertainment and celebration of the City’s diversity, will be hosted by Mason’s International Club and ESOL/Foreign Language staff. All are welcome to attend and contribute to the pot luck event by bringing entrees, side dishes or salad for 8 – 10 people to share. A raffle of gift certificates from local restaurants will take place to support a child in India. To donate, e-mail Holly Garcia garciah@fccps.org. For more information, e-mail Joanna Snitzer at JoannaSnitzer@hotmail.com.

Longfellow MS Students Compete in Nat’l Science Bowl Students from Longfellow Middle School are slated to participate in the United States Department of Energy Office of Science’s National Science Bowl regional competition next Saturday, March 7, at Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Va. The competition consists of matches between teams of four that face off in a fast-paced, question-and-answer format. The

BETH GREEN’S SECOND GRADERS at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School embarked on their �irst “archaeological dig” during the class wastebasket excavation last week. During the excavation, groups of students received a wastebasket from classrooms around Jefferson, took out the items and recorded them in order. The next step is for the students to analyze their �indings. (P��: C�� B�� G��/FCCPS P��) winner of the regional competition will win prizes for the team members and their schools and be Virginia’s representative in the middle school national finals of the science bowl in late April. In the finals teams compete for adventure trips to places like Alaska and the national parks across the country to learn firsthand about science in the field, as well as trophies, medals, and supplies for their schools’ science departments. For more information, visit science.energy.gov/wd.

Dulin Preschool Online Auction Begins this Sunday Dulin Cooperative Preschool’s 2015 Online Auction fundraiser starts this Sunday, March 1, and will be open through next Saturday, March 7. Items up for auction include baseball tickets, a limo rental and a photography workshop. Proceeds from the online auction will go directly toward supporting the educational experience at Dulin Preschool and the Polly Cox Scholarship Fund. To bid on items, visit dulinpreschool.afrogs.org.

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

SPO RTS

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 21

Mason Boys Beat Riverheads in Regional Opener

by Liz Lizama

Falls Church News-Press

After inclement weather last week cancelled the semifinal and final games of the Virginia High School League’s Conference 35 tournament, the George Mason High School varsity boys basketball team advanced to the 2A East regional playoffs as the top seed. In its first round, Mason’s Mustangs faced Conference 36 No. 4 seed, Riverheads High School, who they squeaked by 54-47 to advance on to the regional quarterfinals. The Mustangs last played Feb. 12 when they beat Strasburg High School in the Bull Run District championship game. As the top seed of Conference 35, Mason earned a first-round bye and was scheduled to play Page County High School in the quarterfinals of that conference’s tournament last Wednesday. However, the first-round games were postponed twice as a result of severe weather, which further delayed the quarterfinals. The first-round games finally occurred last Thursday, but the remaining games in the tournament were cancelled as a result of the imminent snowstorms over the weekend. The top four Conference 35 schools, based on seed, moved on to the next level, which included Strasburg High School, Luray

High School and Page County High School, in that order. With 12 days off, Tuesday night’s game against the Riverheads Gladiators proved challenging for the Mustangs, who won most regular season games by double digits. Ahead of the game, Mason head coach Chris Capannola said he and assistant head coach Mike Gilroy sensed the team was “a little flat” even before warmups. “We tried to tell the guys that playoff, do-or-die basketball is way different than regular season basketball.” The Gladiators kicked off the game with an early 6-0 lead, but the Mustangs closed the gap and ended the first quarter with an 11-11 tie. At halftime, the score remained just two points apart with Mason leading 25-23. The Mustangs jumped up to a 31-25 lead with a 6-0 run in the third quarter, but the Gladiators responded with two three-pointers, ending the quarter 35-33 and trailing by just two points. With a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter, Mason sealed the game to win by seven points. Junior forward Robert Tartt led the Mustangs with 21 points. Junior guards Josh Allen and Thomas Beddow added 10 and 7 points respectively. While Capannola said the team shot poorly and forced a lot of

MASON JUNIOR ROBERT TARTT soars past a Riverheads High School player to dunk the ball in the Mustangs’ 54-47 win over the Riverheads Gladiators. (Photo: Drew Costley/News-Press) turnovers, the Mustangs did just enough to hold off a determined Riverheads team. Mason’s defense also struggled. “Our defense wasn’t as good as usual tonight, and the fact that Riverheads played a 2-3 zone and we weren’t making shots got us

anxious,” Capannola said. “We tried to force things that weren’t there, and we had a bunch of turnovers as a result.” Nonetheless, the team’s win takes them to the 2A East quarterfinals tonight where they will play Brunswick High School at home.

“They are a totally different test for us with their speed and athleticism,” said Capannola. “We dodged a bullet tonight,” he said in an email after the game against Riverheads. “I think tonight woke us up, and we’ll be ready for the challenge Thursday.”

NOVA Ice Dogs Win CBHL Championship The NOVA Ice Dogs U12-A girls ice hockey team defeated the Montgomery Blue Devils to win the Chesapeake Bay Hockey League U12 Girls Championship yesterday . It was a tight game throughout, but the Ice Dogs ultimately prevailed 4-3. The team lost their first (and only) game of the 2014-2015 season to the

Blue Devils in October 2014, but ended up winning all of their remaining regular season and playoff games finishing with a 13-1 record – winning both the Chesapeake Bay Hockey League Regular Season Title and the Playoff Championship. The U12-A team is made up of 19 11- and 12-year-old girls from in

THE NOVA ICE DOGS 12 and under team won the Chesapeake Bay Hockey League Championship last Sunday by beating the Montgomery Blue Devils 4-3. (Photo: Courtesy of Michael Donovan)

and around northern Virginia. On the Ice Dogs roster are: Katherine Donovan, Sarah Ettinger, Kaia Jefferson, Jillian Kendrick, and Bryana Nace of Falls Church City; Kelly DeMatties and Mira Majure of Falls Church, Fairfax County; Alexandra Friedman and Ana Evans of Alexandria; Rachel Clarke and Emily Rotter of Arlington; Gwenyth Holloway and Braylee Weets of Springfield; Lexi Lewis of Nokesville; Elizabeth Mueller of Fairfax Station; Caley Duchak of Vienna; Mia Boris and Macie McGraw of Washington DC; and Sara ten Broecke of Columbia MD. The team is coached by Falls Church City resident Mike Donovan and Aaron Duchak of Vienna. Tryouts for next year’s girls teams will be held April 30 – May 7 in Alexandria, Va. The club plans to field 7-10 girls ice hockey teams next year, ranging in ages from 7–19 years old. For more information, e-mail Peter Townsend at peterwtownsend@ comcast.net.

MASON’S BOYS AND GIRLS swim teams won the VHSL state championship on Tuesday night. (Photo: Courtesy of Ari Autor)

Mustang Boys and Girls Swim Teams Win State Championship

After a postponement over the weekend due to inclement weather, George Mason High School’s boys and girls varsity swim teams won the Virginia High School League state championship Tuesday night at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. The girls team scored 395 points

on the way to their state title, topping Maggie Walker Governor’s School, who came in second place with 363 points. The boys team scored 380 points on the way to their state title, also topping Maggie Walker Governor’s School, who came in second place with 250 points.

PAGE 22 | FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015

SE NI O R L I V I NG

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

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Looking for Love Online? Beware by Matilda Charles

King Features Syndicate

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re considering whether you should look for someone to date by going online, be sure you know the signs of a scam. The Better Business Bureau has some suggestions: â&#x20AC;˘ Find out if the dating site does background checks. Most of them donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. Anyone can sign up, and the dating site is happy to take their money. â&#x20AC;˘ The minute someone asks you for money, stop communicating immediately. It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter what the reason ... never give so much as one cent. Beware if the person claims to be overseas, in the military or recently widowed. Many states have sex offenders databases. Check. â&#x20AC;˘ Do a search online (use Google) to hunt for the person under the screen name and the â&#x20AC;&#x153;realâ&#x20AC;? name. You can even put in

snippets of text from your email communications to see if a pattern shows up. Put in the name and click â&#x20AC;&#x153;Imagesâ&#x20AC;? to see if you spot familiar pictures. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sent a photo, it might be fake. â&#x20AC;˘ Beware suitors who are too quick to declare love or ask for marriage. Take a close look at the personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social-media page. Does it look real? Check the dating siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scam forums to see if you recognize any names or photos. â&#x20AC;˘ Take someone with you if you decide to meet. â&#x20AC;˘ Be wary of those who want to communicate outside of the dating site. You need the protection of the site, since many monitor communications to watch for patterns of scams. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a better idea: Put out the word among your friends and acquaintances that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re interested in meeting new people. Consider the groups youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re already in, or join new ones.

*** As far back as 2007, researchers were reporting on the benefits of meditation in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease. At the time, they claimed that only 12 minutes a day allowed the brain to heal. Other researchers soon began their own investigations. In 2009, UCLA researchers discovered that certain areas of the brain are larger and have more gray matter in people who meditate. Two years later those same researchers learned that in people who meditate, the connections between areas in the brain are stronger and have less of the brain atrophy that usually comes with age. In this case, the connections werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just between specific parts of the brain, but in the whole brain. Whether the meditation caused brain growth or stopped the reduction wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t known at the time. A year later, scientists learned that the brains of those who medi-

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 23

tate have â&#x20AC;&#x153;gyrification,â&#x20AC;? allowing the brain to process information faster. Additionally it appeared that the more years of meditation, the more gyrification was present. The UCLA researchers are back. Their updated research indicates that meditation might slow the loss of gray matter in the brain. While they expected some small amount of effect, they were surprised at the â&#x20AC;&#x153;widespread effect of meditation ... throughout the entire brain.â&#x20AC;? What does this mean for us? That we should seriously consider meditation as part of our daily

routine to possibly hold off agerelated brain changes. Meditation can be learned, and so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best to start with a bit of instruction. If your senior center doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t offer classes, go online and research â&#x20AC;&#x153;learn meditationâ&#x20AC;? to help you get started. You also might find ongoing classes in your area, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible that they will be free. ď ľ Matilda Charles regrets that she cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into her column whenever possible. Send email to columnreply2@gmail.com.

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS RFP NO. 0213-15-VSPS VISIONING, SCHOOLl PLANNING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SERVICES CITY OF FALLS CHURCH Sealed proposals will be accepted by the City of Falls Church at the Purchasing Office, 300 Park Ave., Room 300E, Falls Church, VA 22046 for the provision of Visioning, School Planning & Economic Development Services. Due date for the receipt of proposals is March 27, 2015 by 11:00 a.m. A copy of the RFP which includes all details and requirements may be downloaded from the City of Falls Church’s procurement website: http:// www.fallschurchva.gov/Bids. In addition, a copy of the RFP may be accessed via eVA, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s electronic procurement portal for registered suppliers: http://eva.virginia.gov. For more information and/or questions regarding this RFP contact the City’s Purchasing Agent; (703) 248-5007; purchasing@ fallschurchva.gov. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability, call 703 248-5007 (TTY 711).

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We are pleged to the letter and spirit of Virginia’s policy for achieving equal housing opportuWe are pledged to nity the throughout letter and spirit of Virginia’s polithe Commonwealth. We encourage and cy for achieving equal housing opportunity throughout the support advertising and Commonwealth. We encourage andin support advertising and marketing programs which are no barriers obtaining marketing programs inthere which theretoare no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, housing because of race, religion, color, national religion, origin, sex, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial statusAllorreal estate advertised elderliness, familial status or handicap. handicap. All real estate adverherein is subject to Virginia’s tised herein fair is housing subject to law which makes it Virginia’s fair housing law which illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation, or discrimination makes it illegal to advertise “any because of race, color,preference, religion, national sex, elderliness, limitation, origin, or discrimination because of race, familial status or handicap or intention to make any such prefcolor, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status or newspaper will not erence, limitation, or discrimination.” This handicap or intention to make knowingly accept advertising for real estate any such preference, limitation, that violates the fair or discrimination.” This informed newspahousing law. Our readers are hereby that all dwellings per will not knowingly accept advertised in this newspaper are available advertising for real estate that on an equal opportuviolates the fair housing law.file Our a housing complaint nity basis. For more information or to readers are herby informed that call the Virginia Fair Housing 367-8530. Toll free all dwellings Office advertisedat in (804) this are available on an call (804) 367-9753. call (888) 551-3247. Fornewspaper the hearing impaired equal opportunity basis. For more information or to file a housing complaint call the Virginia Fair Housing Office at (804) 367-8530. Toll free call (888) 551-3247. For the hearing impaired call (804) 367-9753. Email: fairhousing@dpor.virginia.gov. Website: www.fairhousing.vipnet.org

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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Crossword

ACROSS

By David Levinson Wilk 1

14 17

21 23

19 22

40 43

44 47

28 30

53 58

Across

1. Jul. 4 events

1. Jul. 4 events 5. Scarlett O’Hara and others 11. Cable channel since 1981 14. Promises to pay 15. London insurance giant 16. Palindromic girl’s name 17. Hit a famous microbiologist in the head with a baseball pitch? 19. LIII + LIII 20. “It’s ch-ch-chilly!” 21. Have ____ to pick 22. Burrito alternative 23. Wallop someone who likes to put on airs? 28. Some reef dwellers 29. Diabolical 30. Banks on a runway 32. Actor Robert of “The 39 Steps” 34. Stephen Colbert’s network, as of 2015 37. Traveling nighttime vigil? 41. Adams of “American Hustle” 42. Shaggy locks 43. “Roll in ze hay” enthusiast in “Young Frankenstein” 44. “Aaay!” sayer of TV, with “the” 45. Forever and ever 47. What someone averse to lippuckering might cry when handed a pickle? 52. TomKat’s kid 53. Mineralogist with a scale 54. Was up 56. Piece in the Middle East? 57. “Correctamundo!” (or a hint to solving 17-, 23-, 37- and

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015 | PAGE 25

47-Across) 61. “Yo mama’s so poor, she can’t even pay attention,” e.g. 62. Pertaining to a son or daughter 63. Floor 64. Witness 65. “The Andy Griffith Show” costar 66. In the mail

DOWN

1. Lettuce variety 2. One side of an 1899-1902 war 3. Like some reports 4. ID thief’s target 5. Valuable (and valueless) Scrabble tiles 6. ____ the Cow (Borden symbol) 7. Bunch of, casually 8. Grease dissolver 9. Follower of brown. or rice. 10. Belarus, until 1991: Abbr. 11. Asian gambling mecca 12. ‘80s-’90s entertainment combo 13. Sony laptop line 18. Beach toy 22. ____ Aviv 24. Word on American Library Association posters 25. Remains undecided 26. Elliptical 27. Online destination 30. “____ Carter III” (bestselling album of 2008) 31. ____ Kippur 32. Tony of “Taxi” 33. Unified

CHUCKLE BROS BRIAN & RON BOYCHUK

5. Scarlett O'Hara and others 11. Cable channel since 1981

Sudoku Level:

14. Promises to pay

34. Government building 35. Creepy-crawly 36. Relative of Mme. 38. Mine, to Monet 39. Doesn’t have what it takes 40. Two-time All-Star Martinez 44. Memo-heading initials 45. Antiknock fluids 46. ____ buco 47. “____ Q” (1968 hit) 48. Issue (from) 49. “Somebody shot me!” 50. Absent from 51. Any “Breaking Bad” showing, now 52. Brewskis 55. Impression 57. Subj. of the 2006 film “Bobby” 58. “There’s no ____ ‘team’” 59. Mop & ____ (floor cleaner) 60. Navy ship letters Last Thursday’s Solution M E A L

E S A I

D A R K

G A W K S

A V I E W

M E D I A

H M O D E C R

I O N E

S L O U S P E L E R E F T A S C E L E R A B B Y O U G H L R E I M T E

O H H I

W I I G

D E E R

A D R E P

R I G I D

D O K E

S F O O P R H S T S K Y A T E W E P O N O Y R E T B O U B N G E A A L

O R E O

U B E R

T S I T D Y Y

R A R E

A N T I C

I N E R T

N A D E R

F E E L

U R L S

L O P E

S T A K E

By The Mepham Group

1 2 3 4

15. London insurance giant 16. Palindromic girl's name 17. Hit a famous microbiologist in the head with a baseball pitch? 19. LIII + LIII 20. "It's ch-ch-chilly!" 21. Have ____ to pick 1

22. Burrito alternative 23. Wallop someone who likes to put on airs? 28. Some reef dwellers

LOOSE PARTS

29. Diabolical

DAVE BLAZEK

30. Banks on a runway Solution to last Sunday’s puzzle

NICK KNACK

3/1/15

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. © 2015 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

LO CA L

PAGE 26 | FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2015

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

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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

20 s Yearo Ag

e c o mthe to of aid i r t h e re. pastu w N o the is e t i m all for o d g o to cows e c o mthe to

20 � 10 Y�� A�� N��-P�� Falls Church News-Press Vol IV, No. 50 • March 2, 1995

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

Falls Church News-Press Vol XIV, No. 51 • February 24, 2005

10 Year s Ago