Crime Report

PAGE 12 | FEBRUARY 4 – 10, 2021

COMMENT

A Penny for Your Thoughts

News of Greater Falls Church

By Supervisor Penny Gross

Wildlife abounds in our urban area — not just squirrels and chipmunks, but deer, foxes, opossums, raccoons and, I am told, the occasional coyote. A snowy day like last Sunday demonstrates that abundance, as the unblemished snow highlights the paw and hoof prints of our four-footed neighbors. The atmosphere may be hushed by the gently falling flakes, but the tracks show lots of relatively unseen activity. Mother Nature paints those pictures rarely in our area, so the beauty of a fresh snowfall is to be treasured, even as it affects schedules and traffic.

Older areas like Mason District, among the first to have residential and commercial neighborhoods constructed decades ago, are pursuing revitalization opportunities, to bring new investment and vibrancy. Urban Design Guidelines were updated for the Bailey’s Crossroads/ Seven Corners area previously, and now the Annandale Urban Design Guidelines are undergoing the same process. New design topics such as public art and complete street sections are being added, to be consistent with other districts. You can review the draft Volume 11: District Design Guidelines for Annandale, watch an educational video, and submit your comments at fcrevite.org/annandale/ design-guidelines. Comments may be submitted until Feb. 25. A virtual presentation is planned for Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. Visit the website for more details.

Another aspect of an older area is the many longtime residents who have called Mason District home for 30, 40 years or more. They helped build our community, not by physical structures, but by their personal attributes, which they shared with us in many different ways. Sadly, Mason District lost two great friends last week, with the passing of former Park Authority Board member Frank Vajda, and renowned Sephardic musician Flory Jagoda.

Frank Vajda represented Mason District on the Fairfax County Park Authority Board for 16 years, retiring in 2017 when he and his wife, Judie, decided it was time to downsize from their large home in the Camelot neighborhood. Like many Mason District residents, Frank had a 30-year career as an Air Force officer, and then continued his public service in many volunteer capacities. He was Magister (or president) of the Court of Camelot in the early 1990s, and was a stalwart Neighborhood Watch coordinator (Camelot has the oldest continuing serving Neighborhood Watch in the nation).

Frank also ran Camelot’s annual candle/luminaria sale, which raised thousands of dollars for Children’s Hospital for many years. In 2016, Frank was named a Knight of Camelot by his civic association; that honorary action gave him the title of “Sir.” I also selected Frank to be Mason District’s “Lord Fairfax” in 2011, so he had several titles to choose from, in addition to his military rank of Colonel. Frank loved our parks, and was instrumental in obtaining additional parkland, such as Hogge Park and Monch Farm Park. He also was a wonderful co-host of the “Spotlight by Starlight” concerts at Mason District Park, and was an avid supporter of the Park Authority’s garden plot program. Frank’s legacy is one of service and friendship, and he will be sorely missed.

Flory Jagoda, who was 97, escaped Bosnia during World War II, and devoted her new life in America to keeping alive the rich musical heritage and culture of her native Sephardic Judaism. Her efforts were recognized by the U.S. Holocaust Museum, the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Flory was small in stature, but her musical talent and flair were huge. I remember seeing her perform in costume at a Lake Barcroft event. Flory probably was in her late 70s by then, but her energy and passion captivated us all. What a great lady!

 Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor, in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov.

City of Falls Church CRIME REPORT

Week of January 25 – 31, 2021

Larceny from Building- 6600 blk Wilson Blvd, January 25, between 3 and 4 PM, items of value were taken from a shopping cart while the owner was intentionally distracted.

Fraud- 400 blk S Maple Ave, January 26, an incident of fraud was reported.

Assault - 100 blk W Broad St, January 26, 3:45 PM, an irate customer threw a candy bar at an employee.

Credit Card Theft, Failure to Return Bailed Vehicle- 100 blk Hillwood Ave, December 29, a stolen credit card was used to rent a vehicle which remains missing.

Destruction of Property- 100 blk Park Ave, January 28, 4:20 PM, an interior door was damaged by a known individual, who left the premises.

Larceny- Shoplifting-100 blk W Broad St. January 28, 5:05 PM, items of value were taken. Suspect described as a black male, with a black face mask and brown leather jacket.

Drunk in Public-100 blk Hillwood Ave, January 28, 7:49 PM, a male, 60, of no fixed address, was arrested for being Drunk in Public.

Driving Under the Influence-1000 blk Hillwood ave, January 29, 10:01 PM, a male, 34, of Bailey’s Crossroads, VA, was arrested for driving under the influence.

Driving Under the Influence-200 blk S Washington Street, January 30, 10:31 PM, a male 25, of Alexandria VA, was arrested for driving under the influence.

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Sentator Dick Saslaw’s

Richmond Report

February is Black History Month. From Barbara Johns to President Obama, there are many individuals who readily come to mind who have been trailblazers and influential leaders in their professions and in the social sphere. I salute the Black legislators whom I have served with over the years in the Commonwealth.

Based on constituent outreach, the rollout and distribution of the vaccine is front and center on people’s minds. For the record, we are nearing 800,000 vaccinated Virginians with about 8 percent having had the requisite two doses. In Fairfax County there is a waiting list with 100,000 eligible people trying to schedule an appointment. The priorities in Phase 1b continue to be first responders, essential workers, teachers, and individuals that are responsible for providing government services. Rebuilding the economy, getting people back to work, and reopening schools are the prizes we are keeping our eyes on for administering the vaccine.

We need to focus on ramping up production and bolstering the “shots in arms” effort that includes hospitals, medical providers, health districts and large-scale organized vaccination events. After a slow start, Covid-19 vaccinations in the Commonwealth have seen a marked turnaround. Virginia is fifth in the nation in the number of vaccine doses administered per day, despite being the 12th largest state. More than 84 percent of our first doses have been put in arms. That is more than triple the daily vaccinations we were doing three weeks ago.

Highlights of the war on Covid-19 include the announcement that Johnson and Johnson is seeking FDA approval for its one shot vaccine. At the same time, President Biden is taking steps to get additional doses delivered to the states as quickly as production permits. Back here in the Commonwealth, we are receiving a 16 percent increase in our share of the vaccine. I am asking you to be patient and do your part to curb the spread of this pandemic.

The legislative session is operating at warp speed and we are now at Crossover, the time for each chamber to finish work on its own bills and take up the others. The days are extremely long and intense. Policy change should be deliberative and driven by facts. It actually does require a thoughtful deep dive to prevent unintended consequence.

I am the chief patron of the “G3” bill (SB1405) working its way through the Senate. “Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back” is a pathway for Virginians to retool for the future. Climbing out of the depths of this economic downturn caused by the pandemic, we need a skilled workforce to rightfully reclaim our place in the global economy. This is timely and appropriate legislation. Funding for this investment has been proposed in the budget.

Legalizing recreational use of marijuana has been front and center during the General Assembly. SB1406 addresses simple possession, criminal penalties, as well as expungement. The bill has been in full committee, subcommittee, and worked on daily among legislators to get it to its best place. I have no doubt when it gets to the floor of the Senate, there will be a lengthy debate. I have followed this initiative closely and plan to vote for final passage once due diligence is completed.

A bill to abolish the death penalty is also before legislators. This is a complex issue with advocates on both sides making compelling arguments. The questions that have divided Virginians rest with humanity from this ultimate punishment, whether it is a deterrent, as well as how to address the most heinous offenses resulting in the death of a victim. I have voted for passage of SB1165.

Criminal Justice Reform continues with debate on many related issues. I believe until we can incentivize and retain the best in public safety, we have a bigger problem. To that end I’ve submitted budget amendments. The Senate will deliver its amended budget on Sunday.

The Senate took an action to censure one of its members, Amanda Chase, for conduct unbecoming an elected official. Make no mistake about it, the action we took came after much reflection and debate. In her short career, Ms. Chase has a long history of what could easily be deemed behavior unbecoming an elected official. In a dramatic address to the Senate, she was unapologetic and inappropriately attacked many others in the room. SR91 passed mostly along party lines, 24 -9. Six members elected NOT to vote on the matter.

Sine Die is scheduled for Feb. 11. Stay tuned as the details for completed legislative business continues to evolve.

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

Impeachment & the

Dustbin-Bound GOP

Notwithstanding any of his more traditionally criminal acts, we must go into next week’s impeachment trial of Donald Trump with a reminder to all, and especially the Republicans who drank the Kool Aid and so still think it’s cool to defend the most despicable crook ever in the White House, that over the course of this man’s one four year term as president he succeeded in giving over the all three branches of the U.S. government to his adversaries.

Quite the formidable hero of his party, this man — not! Nicholas F. Within a year of his being in office, the entire government of the Benton Commonwealth of Virginia flipped to the Democrats, but that was only FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS for starters. First the House, then the presidency by seven and a half million votes and lastly, the Senate (with the two upset special election victories in Georgia topping it off in January) all went Democratic under his watch. That’s really something worth holding onto for the Republicans.

And, trust me, this albatross is not about to let go of the damnation-destined sinking GOP sailors who with glazed unblinking eyes and stiffened torsos slip below the surface like the briny cadavers that many have already become.

The value of the impeachment proceedings that will commence next week will lie in the ability of the full force of the case against him to be brought out for the entire U.S. population to see. It will have little concern for an actual ability to convict, since it is assured the spineless Republicans in the Senate will prevent that. But it should be presented as one of the most shocking and convincing cases ever to make prime time that the U.S. public may ever get to see. It’s the sensibilities of 330 million American lives that are the proper jury for this proceeding, and Trump’s accusers must make the most of the opportunity.

Should they succeed, and all the evidence is there in plain sight for them, then not only Trump, but every one of sycophant allies who were in positions to know, must also be run out of town by this. There should be no pulling of punches.

All the blows should be aimed at the back of the head, as all my coaches taught. Apparently Mitch McConnell is about the only one in his party who can see what is coming and it’s because among Trump loyalists he’s about the only one with a functioning brain. The lemmings have already locked themselves into high gear and are blindly galloping at top speed, oh so fervently, forward. (Apologies for the mixed metaphors, from drowning sailors to galloping lemmings, but my mind is veritably ablaze with images of what is now occurring. Perhaps this is its way of releasing itself from the vice grip of insanity it was forced to experience the last four years under Trump, the every single day’s God-awful tweets and inanities we all experienced. It also helps to enjoy a single late night cocktail drunk from a new Biden-Harris emblazoned glass!)

In regards to that, the toast must go to not only our new White House team, but to the truly extraordinary effort of the American people to do the nearly impossible, to root out a lying genocidal tyrant after only one term in office.

It cannot be overstated how difficult it was to do this.

The power of the incumbency is a remarkable thing, and it was evident from Day One how Trump intended to play it to the hilt, not only against his political opponents but against truth, itself.

His was the first fully “postmodern” presidency, incorporating its radical “post-truth” elements, to repudiate all the norms of human reason and sensibility and assert that power and pleasure are the only true measures of social behavior, such that love and all the rest are mere fictions designed to delude the masses.

A tyrant with such anti-human proclivities should be mighty hard to unseat. But, ladies and gentlemen, fellow true patriots, we did it. It was the core human values that so many refused to abandon, both in positions of power and in long voter lines, that did it.

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

COMMENT

FEBRUARY 4 – 10, 2021 | PAGE 13

Our Man in Arlington ily, associates and neighbors. A resiBy Charlie Clark dent of Sterling, he gets help from his California cousin

Black History Month, for Donna Kunkel in keeping scattered Steve Hammond, forms just part Syphax descendants informed of his ongoing retirement project about Arlington House. of ferreting out new truths about Joining the Arlington House Arlington. Foundation helped Hammond pitch

The seventh-generation descen- in when the National Park Service dant of the Syphax family that created its new exhibit on the came up from slavery at Arlington enslaved community. The asserHouse, Hammond — still a sci- tion that the plantation’s builder, entist emeritus after 40 years at George Washington Parke Custis the U.S. Geological Survey — has (1781-1857) fathered at least one been busy with a flurry of presenta- child with an enslaved woman is tions about his ancestry, reinterpre- explored in a 2018 talk Hammond tations of local history and policy gave to the Smithsonian’s National advocacy. Museum of African American

His pandemic-era Zoom talks History. have included exploration of fam- He also is conversant in the ily patriarch William Syphax (circa contributions of John Syphax 1773-1850), who bought his free- (1838-1906), a leader among the dom in 1817 and set up a busi- formerly enslaved at Freedman’s ness next to the historic Carlyle Village near Arlington House. That House in Alexandria. This Syphax Syphax in 1888 wrote to Secretary worked with a neighbor, Quaker of War W.C. Bodicott to protest the pharmacist and abolitionist Edward “horrid” conditions at the governStabler, to save money to free the ment-run compound. The result: rest of his family. compensation for residents before

Equally ground-breaking is the village was closed in 1900. Hammond’s talk on ancestor Nancy Hammond helps create family Syphax (circa 1791-1880), on her trees showing genealogical links enslavement at Decatur House in between certain Syphaxes and Washington, D.C., and her being Martha Washington, via Maria sold down to New Orleans. Last Syphax’s probable status as an illemonth, I heard his lecture on gitimate daughter of Custis. Her Louisiana ancestor Peter Joseph wedding in 1821 in the mansion, (1842-1906), named an elector for and Custis’s subsequent freeing of the controversial 1876 presidential Maria and her children with a gift election. of land, are clues that bolster the

Hammond supplements sto- oral tradition. ries passed down in the family The Syphax descendants still with census documents, manumis- hope for collaboration with Leesion papers and news clippings. Custis kin to compare results of His “Reconstructing a Family DNA tests, as a sort of cooperative Narrative” approach is researched “truth serum,” Hammond confides. around his concept of FAN — fam- Last fall he boosted legislation to remove slavery-defender and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the site’s official name. Calling it simply “Arlington House” would make the Park Service memorial “more inclusive of everyone who worked, lived and died there,” Hammond said. (Rep. Don Beyer plans to reintroduce the bill soon.)

And as our county board has empaneled volunteers to explore alternatives to the Arlington House logo, Hammond took a complex position. He doesn’t buy one board member’s notion that Arlington House, being federal property, isn’t linked to our modern community. Yet he would “encourage the Park Service to realize its responsibility to be more community-oriented and work with the county as a partner and stakeholder.” ***

Local history buffs recently inquired what became of the weapon used to assassinate American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell on Aug. 25, 1967, at our Dominion Hills Shopping Center.

The 1920s-vintage German Mauser semi automatic pistol used by convicted killer John Patler (a disgruntled Rockwell associate) remains in possession of the Arlington Circuit Court, I was informed by retired clerk of the court David Bell.

“There has been sporadic interest in it over the years, including by a couple of card-carrying Nazis,” Bell said of the item of evidence stored in an undisclosed location. “Because of its intrinsic and historical value, it has always been under an extra degree of security.”

Someday, Bell agreed, it might be given to the Arlington Historical Society, given proper security.