13 minute read
Crime Report .................................... 12 Calendar
PAGE 16 | SEPTEMBER 16– 22, 2021
CALENDAR
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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM
FALLS CHURCH CALENDAR
LOCALEVENTS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
Bilingual Baby Storytime.
Interested parents can join Tysons Pimmit Library for songs, rhymes, stories and activities for you and your baby. Build an early literacy foundation while enjoying time together in your lap. This week's baby storytime will include Spanish songs and books. Space limited to 15 children with one caregiver each. No registration, customers will be allowed in on a first come, first served basis. Check in at the Children's Information desk for tickets.This class is best for babies 0-18 months and their caregivers. Tysons Pimmit Library (7584 Leesburg Pike Falls Church). 10:30 – 11 a.m.
Woodrow Wilson Storytime.
Interested parents can bring their children to Woodrow Wilson Library to read stories, move their feet and have fun. Attendees will also be learning Spanish words as they fit with the theme of each program. For the month of September, all storytimes will be for ages birth to 4 years old. Woodrow WIlson Library (6101 Knollwood Dr. Falls Church). 10:30 – 11 a.m.
Sunset Cinema: Raya & The Last
Dragon. Interested attendees can join the City's Recreation and Parks Department on select Fridays in September and October for Sunset Cinema in Cherry Hill Park. Moviegoers are encouraged to bring blankets and picnics. Drinks, popcorn, and snacks will be available for purchase. Attendance is free and all are welcome. In the case of inclement weather, screenings will be moved into the Community Center as available. The Sept. 17 Sunset Cinema movie is “Raya and The Last Dragon” (PG, 2021). Cherry Hill Park (312 Park Ave., Falls Church). 7:45 – 10 p.m. will find fresh, local produce, meat, dairy, flowers & plants, honey, music and more. City Hall (300 Park Ave., Falls Church). 8 a.m. – noon. For more information, visit fallschurchva.gov/547/Farmers-MarketTo-Go.
Paws to Read with Lucy. Read aloud to Lucy, a trained therapy dog. Bring your own book or choose a book from the library. Walk-ins welcome. Age 6-12. Thomas Jefferson Library (7415 Arlington Blvd.) Falls Church. 2 – 3 p.m.
3D Printing with FCPL. Teens and adults are welcome to go over finding objects well suited for our style and size of our printers, creating simple objects, and an inside look at how we print for the public. Are you trying to create, resize, or modify a file to print with us? Stop by and we'll try to help make your next print more successful. To follow along, bring a charged laptop and a mouse. Masks are required for all individuals inside the library regardless of vaccination status. Tyson Pimmit Library (7584 Leesburg Pike Falls Church). 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Pajama Storytime. Children and their parents are welcome to come in their pajamas and bring a teddy bear for a bedtime story at Tysons Pimmit Library. (7584 Leesburg Pike). 7 – 7:30 p.m.
City Council Work Session (Online).
City Council work sessions are held the first and third Monday of the month, with the exception of August and December when only one meeting is held. These meetings are open to the public and are conducted to allow Council Members to discuss upcoming legislation and policy issues; the public is not generally invited to speak. All participating members of the City Council will be present at this meeting through electronic means. All members of the public may view this electronic meeting via www. fallschurchva.gov/CouncilMeetings. The meeting may also be viewed on FCCTV (Cox 11, RCN 2, Verizon 35). Video will be available after the meeting both online and on FCCTV. 7:30 – 11 p.m.
“Detroit '67” by Dominique
Morisseau. This award-winning play tells the story of the Poindexter siblings and the personal -- as well as social -- conflicts that they are forced to go through in late60s Detroit. Set to the influential soundtrack of Motown, this play is a spirit story of human drama, as well as a socially resonant piece of art. Streaming online until Sept. 16. Signature Features productions can be streamed on your computer or watched on your TV through the Marquee TV app; the app is available on multiple devices. Ticket buyers do not need to pay any additional fees to view Signature productions on Marquee TV. $35. For more information or to buy tickets visit sigtheatre.org/events/202021/ detroit-67.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
Falls Church Farmers Market. The Falls Church Farmers Market runs every Saturday, where attendees
VIRTUALEVENTS
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
DAN RODRIGUEZ, will bring his musical talents to Jammin' Java on Friday, September 17th.
(Photo: Melodie Yvonne)
THEATER&ARTS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
LIVEMUSIC
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
The Claire Show. Ireland's Four Provinces (105 W. Broad Street). 7 p.m. 703-534-8999.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
Mother’s Little Helper. The State Theatre (220 N Washington St., Falls Church). Free. 7:30 p.m. 703237-0300.
Brook Yoder (encore performance the following night at the same time). Ireland's Four Provinces (105 W. Broad Street). 7 p.m. 703-5348999.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
Nobody’s Business. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 4 p.m. 703-241-9504.
Young Relics. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 8:30 p.m. 703-241-9504.
Mars Rodeo Acoustic. Falls Church Distillers (442 S. Washington Street, Ste A Falls Church). 1 p.m. 703-8589186. Red Shoes Live. Falls Church Distillers (442 S. Washington Street, Ste A Falls Church). 7 p.m. 703-8589186.
The Fabulous Dialtones Live.
Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $Free. 7 p.m. 703-2551566.
33 ⅓ Live’s Killer Queen Experience.
The Birchmere (3701 Mount Vernon Ave, Alexandria). $35. 7:30 p.m. 703-549-7500.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
Accidental Charm Live and In
Concert: Outdoor Show. The State Theatre (220 N Washington St., Falls Church). Free. 6 p.m. 703-2370300.
Country Show Jam. JV’s Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 3:30p.m. 703-241-9504.
The Way Down Wanderers.
Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna). $15. 7:30 p.m. 703-2551566.
Willem Dicke Live and in Concert.
Ireland's Four Provinces (105 W. Broad Street). 4p.m. 703-5348999
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM
LOCAL
SEPTEMBER 16 – 22, 2021 | PAGE 17
Benton’s New Book Dives Into Putin’s Role in Capital Insurrection
BY J. ROSLYN
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
Nicholas Benton’s ten part series on Vladimir Putin’s role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol makes some astonishing conclusions, but the most astonishing is that Russia has been deeply involved in running large factions of US political parties since the 1970s and Trump has been groomed as a Russian asset since at least 1987.
In his book, Benton demonstrates and documents that the sacking of the U.S. Capitol came closer to a coup against the U.S. than many in the intelligence community are willing to let on and if the forces behind this attack are not exposed and stopped, there is little doubt that those forces will regroup and try again. In order to understand the insurrection, Benton makes clear that the question is not whether Putin and his predecessors in the KGB sought to harm the U.S., instead the question is how deep does their perfidy go and how did it happen. The answer is breathtaking in its scope.
Benton writes that starting in the 1970s, seeds were planted for the rise of Trump and the cults surrounding him, including the corruption of the Republican Party and the creation of QAnon. Under the cover of a new “detente” with the Nixon administration, the Soviet KGB began a shift in how to penetrate and control the U.S. from within. First, the new détente involved duping Nixon into agreeing with it on the grounds it would help him to control what he considered his leftist and liberal enemies, including the residues of the civil rights, feminist, gay liberation and anti-war movements. At the same time, the KGB encouraged its fringe assets to make a turn to the right. Thus, previous leftist organizations like Lyndon LaRouche’s National Caucus of Labor Committees began showing up at leftist fringe meetings and threatening and attacking them. It was called “Operation Mop-Up.”
The Soviet operation against the US in the 1970s also affected the growth of cults. Benton writes about his first-hand experience with the cult of Lyndon LaRouche, which enables him to provide key insights into the workings of QAnon. He also refers to another cult survivor, Marisa Meltzer and her essay, “The New Age Roots of Q: Masculinity, Spirituality and the Strange Convergence of Counterculture and Hate.” Benton focuses on her description of her own involvement earlier in her life in cults that were born from the counterculture and her use of this material to demonstrate how people were pulled into the cult of Q and QAnon. Benton concludes that only those in a cult could believe that a Satan-worshipping cabal of elites is running the world from behind the scenes.
Perhaps the most shocking argument Benton makes is that Trump has been a patiently cultivated Russian agent since at least 1987, and he has effectively drawn in a whole faction of the Republican Party and was able to convince over 70 million people to vote for him in the last election. Benton argues that, if the American democratic experiment is to survive for the long haul, it is going to have to face this condition very directly. This means fearlessly exposing the fact that the sacking of the Capitol was a Moscow-inspired operation, notwithstanding how violently the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other radical rightwing cult groups involved might deny it.
In this book, Benton begins to unravel the Putin spider’s web behind the Trump presidency, QAnon and the January 6, sacking of the Capitol. It is not the entire story but it is a good chunk of the road map used by Putin and his Soviet colleagues to influence so much of American politics since the 1970s.
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PAGE 18 | SEPTEMBER 16 – 22, 2021
SPORTS
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM
Meridian Still Searching for 1st Win After Loss to Oakton
by Mike Abler
Falls Church News-Press
Meridian High School suffered its fourth loss of the volleyball season with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Oakton High School on Sept. 9.
Meridian hasn’t won a game this season, and the Cougars’ ability to win the match in four sets drove that point home. But there were some flashes of promise for the Mustangs. The one set they did win they gave Oakton a good fight. Still, it wasn’t enough and resulted in their second loss in a row.
The Cougars made quick work of Meridian in the first two sets, downing the home team 25-15 and 25-16. Oakton had their way with them early into the contest, but the Mustangs turned it on in the third set.
Meridian scored several straight kills on their way to a 25-18 win, bringing them within one set of tying the visiting Cougars. It appeared that momentum carried into the fourth set when they were challenging Oakton from the jump and had cleaned up some of the mistakes they made in the first few sets. However, it proved shortlived, as the Cougars were able to regain control of the set and close out the match with a 25-10 victory.
Despite the poor start to the season, head coach Derek Baxter remains optimistic and noted that the atmosphere on the team is positive.
“The scores of each match doesn’t reflect our progress,” Baxter said. “We are doing what we need to win matches more and more each week.”
Baxter also mentioned that there is a lot of encouragement from everyone on the team and everyone’s pushing each other to get better each day.
“It’s a long season, so there’s time for the team to develop. There’s no need to rush it. As long as we make it into District and Regional playoffs, I’ll be happy,” Baxter added.
Baxter also noted that their next opponent has always been exceptional at volleyball, but it’s more important for the team to focus on their strategies. “Being able to adjust strategy as the game progresses.” The Mustangs played Briar Woods High School Tuesday on the road. Results were not available by press time.
Meridian had an outstanding 2020 season, finishing in the Class 3 state semifinals. But that was with a veteran senior class that had been on varsity since many were freshmen and sophomores. This year’s team is still looking to hit that same stride this year.
THE JOYS OF HAVING a veteran team, such as last year’s pictured here, is not something the Meridian squad has experienced so far this year. There are still some holdovers from the team that made the state semifinals but gelling process is ongoing. (Photo: Carol sly)
Offensive Showcase Carries Mustangs Past Madison County, 35-8
by Mike Abler
Falls Church News-Press
After splitting their first two games, Meridian High School stampeded back over .500 with a 35-8 win on the road against Madison County High School last Friday.
The Mustangs didn’t waste any time putting points on the board. The scoring started with a seven-yard run from senior running back Griffin Harrison, then senior quarterback Evans Rice threw a 56-yard bomb to senior tailback Patrick Whitaker to build a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Another touchdown pass from Rice and a safety by the defense would have the Mustangs going into halftime with a 22-0 lead.
Head coach Adam Amerine said his team also employed a different style of play. While they’re usually a running team, they let the ball fly against Madison County.
“Traditionally, we like to run and run some more but Evans was throwing the ball well. So we rolled with that,” he explained.
It helped to provide impressive results on both sides of the ball. Rice was nearly unstoppable, completing 7 of 8 passes for 238 yards and three touchdown passes.
The only missteps by the offense was an incompletion by Rice and a missed extra point.
Another star of the game was Whitaker, who had three receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown. He accomplished all this on four targets.
The offense racked up 366 yards of total offense against Madison and will look to continue their dominance against Langley High School on the road. The following two games after that will be at home against Brentsville District High School and Skyline High School.
This game was a shot in the arm for the Mustangs who opened the season with a 37-7 win against Falls Church, until they suffered a 34-14 drubbing from Kettle Run High School. After failing to make the postseason during the spring Covid season due to total points scored, despite being co-district champions, Meridian is looking to turn things around this season.
“Our goal is to improve each week. While the win was nice, there are ways we can get better,” explained head coach Adam Amerine.
While there are seven games left this season, Amerine knows there are keys to continuing their success.
“We need to practice better and expand a few things,” he said. Amerine added that “We need to be ready for the tough opponents later in the year.
Langley is coming off an 0-3 start, but after that Meridian will face Brentsville which is 2-1, further cementing the fact that the games will get tougher as the season progresses.
Meridian is 1-1 on the road so far this year, if they can keep the hot streak going, they might be able to get themselves a winning streak.
