Index Editorial..................2 Letters................2, 6 Comment........10-13 Community News & Notes..............14-15 Business News & Notes...................16 Sports.............18-19 Roger Ebert....22-24 Press Pass..........25 Calendar.........26-27
Sodoku................29 Comics.................29 Crossword...........29 Restaurant Spotlight ............................30 Classified Ads......34 Business & Services Directory..............35 Weekly Focus .36-37 Critter Corner.......38 Business Listing..39
The George Mason girls high school basketball team isn’t the only local team that’s deserving of your attention and admiration this year. George Mason High School’s own Team 1418, or Vae Victis — meaning “woe of the van-
quished” in Latin — as they call themselves, has won the 2008 Chesapeake Regional FIRST Robotics Competition, held March 15 at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Mason placed first out of 60 competing schools, dominating virtually every event they competed in through the preliminary, quarter-final, semi-
final and final rounds. The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition features teams of high school students around the world battling to build the robot best suited for a specific task, which is revealed to Continued on Page 20
A scarcely-known resource provided to the City of Falls Church by the Virginia State Legislature in 2005 drew keen interest Tuesday as leaders of five area arts organizations addressed the monthly luncheon of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce. The City became one of only a handful in the state authorized to form an “arts and cultural district,” replete with tax and other incentives when Del. Bob Hull, in consultation with then F.C. Assistant Manager Wyatt Shields, added its name to a short list of new applicants during the 2005 legislative session. In the course of exchanges between the spokespersons for the regional arts non-profits and Chamber members Tuesday, this obscure fact came to light, along with the fact that the City has never taken advantage of the opportunity. When asked for a show of hands on whether the City should establish an “arts and cultural district,” over three-dozen local business leaders filling the room at the Italian Café raised their hands. F.C. Chamber Chief Gary LaPorta stressed that the informal and spontaneous show of hands did not constitute any kind of an official vote, but the sentiment was clear following the speakers who, among other things, showed studies documenting the positive economic impact of arts institutions in any community. Ann Rodriguez, president and CEO of the Arts Council of Continued on Page 4