Falls Church News-Press - March 6, 2008 by Falls Church News-Press

Residential real estate assessments in Falls Church City tanked this past year, down an average 5.5% for single family homes, and 6.5% for residential condominiums. Overall, assessments were up by slightly less than 1%, mostly due to new residential and commercial construction. See News Briefs, page 7

An Arlington Circuit Court judge yesterday signed off on the certification of a referendum question proposing a charter change to limit residential use on any future or pending mixed-use development project that will now appear on the May 6 City of Falls Church municipal election ballot. See News Briefs, page 7

Some women in their 30s, 40s and early 50s who favor Barack Obama feel that women have moved past that menare-pigs, woe-is-me, sisters-must-sticktogether, pantsuits-are-powerful era that Hillary’s campaign has lately revived with a vengeance. See page 11

When a frumpy governess gets fired, she becomes the social secretary for a nightclub singer. Based on a 1938 novel, “Miss Pettigrew” stars Frances McDormand and Amy Adams. See page 26

Index Editorial..................2 Letters................2, 6 Crime Report.........5 Comment........10-13 Community News & Notes..............14-15 Business News & Notes...................18 Sports.............19-20 Press Pass..........22 Roger Ebert....26-28 Calendar.........30-31

Sodoku................33 Comics.................33 Crossword...........33 Restaurant Spotlight ............................34 Classified Ads......38 Business & Services Directory..............39 Weekly Focus 40-41 Critter Corner.......42 Business Listing..43

Two years ago, many citizens were disappointed when the City of Falls Church held its first uncontested election for City Council in two decades. This year, as the filing deadline passed Tuesday, no less than eight candidates have filed to compete for three Council seats, making it the most heavily contested race in the City’s history.

In addition, four School Board candidates competing for three seats will be on the May 6 municipal election ballot, as well a charter-change referendum that, if passed, would limit mixed use development in the City’s commercial corridors. While the City’s oldest and most established civic organization, the Citizens for a Better City (CBC), threw its lot in with the re-election ambitions of Mayor Robin Gardner, Vice

Mayor Lindy Hockenberry and newcomer Lawrence Webb, as well as the group’s premier nemesis, former Vice Mayor Sam Mabry, surprised many by throwing his hat in the ring at the last minute. Mabry, who has run three times previously, winning twice, is considered a behindthe-scenes mastermind of the failed effort to derail the justContinued on Page 5

The biggest development project ever seen, much less enabled by government re-zoning and special exceptions, in the City of Falls Church was approved unanimously by its City Council last Thursday night, paving the way for the Atlantic Realty Company to spend $317 million building a new hotel, Class A office building, supermarket, blocks of retail, six-level parking deck, street, sidewalk and parkland improvements, and hundreds of residential condos, rental units, and townhouses. By conservative estimates, the project will generate a net $2.8 million annually in tax revenue to the City coffers, an amount that would otherwise cost the City’s residential taxpayers more than a 10% boost in their tax current rate. While groundbreaking is expected this summer, and the entire project will take over four years to complete, last Thursday’s vote provided hope for City taxpayers on the eve of what is expected to be one of the City’s roughest budget deliberations in its 59 year history as an independent jurisdiction. In fact, the City Assessor’s grim new numbers on the value of residential and commercial real estate in Falls Church were due out yesterday (see story, elsewhere this edition), confronting the City staff and Council with some very tough choices before the adoption of the next fiscal year budget by the end of April. Already, the School Board has proposed the elimination of eight support positions in its system, the first absolute Continued on Page 4

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March 6 - 12, 2008

EDITORIAL

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During the course of last Thursday’s historic, four-and-a-half hour Falls Church City Council meeting, culminating in the final approval of the $317 million City Center project, Councilman Dan Sze quoted from an official document. It was a City Council resolution calling for a study of development options for a new City Center around the Falls Church “crossroads” (Route 7 and 29 intersection). It was dated 1972. That’s how long it has taken. Actually, Chamber of Commerce activist and renowned local architect Paul Barkley was here when the notion was buzzing around in 1964. That means the City Center plan finally voted into being last Thursday was 44 years in the making. The fact that the City Council passed all six of the items needed to seal the deal unanimously is very significant as the City moves forward. It reflected an overwhelming consensus by all the officials elected by the citizens to act in their best interest. They included an array consisting of one who’s been on the Council since 1994, two who’re completing eight years, one completing four and three who are in their first terms, reflecting different times and election cycles from the City’s recent past. Also, throughout many of the long and tedious public hearings and deliberations sat the City’s respected former fourterm (1980-88) mayor, Carol DeLong, who was keenly observing, occasionally making comments about process, but not objecting. Those exercising their right to oppose the plan, either in its entirety or due to shortcomings they felt needed more time to resolve, were virtually all outside the domain of publicly-elected officials and the City’s professional staff, including the countless hours involved of improving and fine-tuning the many moving parts of the final deal. Those opponents are now moving with their on-going grievances to the referendum process and the May City Council election. But everything, including biennial public elections and earlier referendum results, that brought the City forward to the point last week was summed up in the set of unanimous votes. This was the result of an overwhelming community-wide consensus with very long and deep roots in the City’s development over time. When the Falls Church News-Press began in March 1991, the nation was in a recession and Falls Church’s inability to derive significant revenue from its commercially-zoned corridors was considered, by some at least, as cause for its potential failure as an independent jurisdiction. We began editorializing about that relentlessly beginning in our very first month. About the same time, with nothing but a vague vision, the City Council voted $50,000 for something yet to the created, which it called a “Private-Public Partnership.” It was another start, a very tiny baby step, but the first among many that inched the process forward to where it arrived last Thursday night.

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Letters to the Editor

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Editor, The Falls Church NewsPress was in error when it reported that the school board was cutting eight administrative positions from the budget. Administrative positions in the education world refer to leadership positions, such as principals, directors and superintendents, and there are no plans to cut any of these positions. The board is eliminating the equivalent of about eight positions, which include parts of support and professional positions in the central office and all four schools. Some of these positions are currently vacant and

will not be filled. The Falls Church NewsPress was correct in reporting that the school board’s budget plan requests a 3.7 percent increase in the city’s monetary transfer – the lowest request in years. On an inflationary basis, it is basically zero, which is the lowest the board could go without compromising the school division’s small class sizes. The recent downturn in the economy made this year’s budget process especially difficult. The board did everything in its power to trim the budget while doing no harm to the instructional program. As we face the

harsh realities of the current fiscal forecast, we remain committed to preserving the high educational standards that make the Falls Church City Public Schools the crown jewel of our community. Craig Cheney, Chairman F.C. City School Board

Referendum is Key Citizen Tool In Constitution Editor, In his February 28, 2008 Letter to the Editor, Mike Curtin of Falls Church, as part of his objection to a Referendum to restrict City Council’s approval powers relative to new mixed use development projects, stated “In addition to being a simplistic and completely fallacious understanding of the principles

of democracy upon which this country is based, the referendum is a direct slap in the face to this Council.” Mr. Curtin went on to say about citizens who may have signed a petition to support a Referendum (speaking as a ‘petitioner’)“We elected you to deal with all the things we really don’t care about...until there is a decision to be made that we really feel matters…then no offense we would like to make it ourselves”. Frankly, I couldn’t disagree more with Mr. Curtin’s statements. Mr. Curtin must only review The Constitution of the United States and a little document called The Declaration of Independence to understand governing bodies or City Councils ultimately derive their powers from the citizens who elect them to those offices. To the extent a Referendum is a recognized More Letters on Page 6

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March 6 - 12, 2008

With Its Unanimous OK, City Center Construction Prepared Continued from Page 1

staff cutback in two decades. But the City Center project now shines as a firm bright light on the horizon. Net income to the City from the project, even as it is being built, will begin flowing in as early as next year. Meanwhile, the City Center plan will go through a thorough site plan review, which will have a public charette as its centerpiece with an outside architectural consultant who will give the public an opportunity to participate in a deliberative process on the architectural look of the development. The final site plan approval will come from the Planning Commission, which had recommended against the Council’s approval of the zoning and special exception resolutions and ordinances that enabled the plan. But now, the Planning Commission is tasked with reviewing the specifics of the plan with an eye to ensuring

they all fit City guidelines, and signing off on it. Even with an extended review process, officials of Atlantic Realty told the City Council last Thursday that a groundbreaking could be expected this summer. Construction will begin aggressively on the hotel and parking deck, the office building, the “active adult”-restricted condo building, a new bowling alley, a new S. Maple Street realignment and improvements, street-level retail, and development of a small triangle park on the southeast corner of the S. Maple-W. Annandale St. intersection. Once construction of these component are completed in about two years, the second phase will be launched, which will include the 435-unit rental building, draped by ground level condos, a large Harris-Teeter supermarket and more retail. There will also be significant improvements to the adjacent Big Chimneys Park. Although originally suggesting the entire project would take

five years to complete, Atlantic Realty’s Adam Shulman told the City Council last week that he thought it could be done considerably sooner. The Class A office building will be built on adjacent lots facing onto W. Broad that are now the parking lot for the post office and the so-called “Podolnick property” now home to a small drive-through coffee shop. Those properties, one owned by the City and one by its Economic Development Authority, are now to be sold to Atlantic Realty for the new building. But its construction will await the construction by the Young Group of a new fourstory building in the 800 block of W. Broad Street that will house the to-be-relocated public retail component of the post office. Demolition of existing structures at that site was due to take place yesterday, and rapid construction slated to commence immediately. The goal will be to have it completed within one

“Is it good that so many candidates are running for Falls Church City Council?” • Yes • No • Don’t know

Vote on-line at www.FCNP.com Yes

No 20.83

Results of Last Week’s Question:

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Don't Know

70.83

8.33

Don't know 8%

Don't know 2.13

Yes 21%

“Did the F.C. School Board go too far in restraining its budget?” No 71%

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

year, enabling the post office relocation and then the commencement of the new office building construction. Among the major concessions achieved by City negotiators from Atlantic Realty in the closing weeks were: (1) ample free use of the parking deck by the general public, and (2) significant conference and banquet facilities at the new hotel with

a capacity to host major City events. Overall, Atlantic Realty’s proffers to the City total over $16 million in cash or cash equivalents, including a major sum to the City schools to offset the enrollment growth that might accrue due to the project, and $4.2 million to the City or its equivalent in dedicated housing for affordable housing.

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Page 5

Most Contested Election in F.C. History Set for May 6 Continued from Page 1

approved $317 million City Center project, and of the successful effort to place the referendum on this May’s ballot. Mabry made his opposition to the City Center plan, and his support for the referendum, clear in comments to the News-Press yesterday. He was the “petitioner of record” to the Circuit Court for the referendum. Also in the running for City Council is Nader Baroukh, an attorney who was the foremost visible critic of the City Center plan. Earlier announced independent candidates Margaret Housen and Edward Hillegas were also certified for the ballot Tuesday, as was Patrice Lepzyk. While the CBC will back its endorsed candidates as a slate, no team effort has yet been forged among the other five candidates. “We’re having a shotgun start,” Mabry said, suggesting that a more collabora-

tive effort might emerge. In the race to fill three School Board slots, a fourth candidate will join three previously-announced candidates on the ballot. The CBC’s Executive Committee voted to throw its support to Charlotte Hyland, in addition to incumbent Joan Wodiska and newcomer Kim Maller, who received the group’s nod at its nominating convention last month. The CBC sought a third candidate to back after incumbent Kieran Sharpe decided to run without its backing. Not since 1992 have there been more than twice the number of candidates as slots to fill in a Falls Church City Council election in Falls Church. In that year, seven candidates vied for three seats. While eight have run before in elections to fill four seats, there have never been eight running for three slots since the City’s incorporation in 1949. As for the referendum, it was certified for the ballot by the

Arlington Circuit Court yesterday despite a hearing in which Falls Church City Attorney Roy Thorpe sought a delay because of concerns about its wording (see story elsewhere this edition). The referendum wording will be, “Should the City of Falls Church amend the City Charter as follows: The City Council may approve a project, including a pending project, for construction on commercially-zoned property only if at least sixty percent of the total project’s square footage will be used for commercial or retail purposes. The City Council may not, by special exception or other approval, allow more than forty percent of such a project’s square footage to be used for residential purposes.” Similar in wording and intent to a referendum that was soundly defeated by voters in 2002, if passed, the referendum’s proposed charter change would require approval by the Virginia State Legislature next January before becoming law.

For Week of Feb. 26 - Mar. 3, 2008 Destruction of Property, 500 blk. W Broad St., February 26, between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., unknown person(s) carved graffiti inside the elevator of the dwelling. Drug/Narcotic Violation, 800 blk. E Broad St., February 27, 8:55 p.m., police arrested a male, 43, of Alexandria, VA for Driving Revoked, Falsifying Identity to a Law Enforcement Officer, Unlawful Possession of Marijuana, Unlawful Possession of a Schedule I or II Controlled Substance-Cocaine, and Possession of a Schedule I or II Drug with Intention to Distribute-MDMA. Graffiti/Damage to Property, 700 blk. S Washington St., between February 27, 7:00 p.m. and February 28, 10:00 a.m., unknown person(s) spray-painted graffiti on a brick wall. Larceny from Building, 100 blk. W Broad St., February 29, 1:41 p.m., unknown person(s) stole a wallet. Incident to the case, the wallet was recovered in the Tyson Corner area. Drunkenness, 1000 blk. Poplar Dr., February 29, 9:57 p.m., police arrested a female, 18, of Falls Church, VA for DIP. Driving under the Influence, 300 blk. E Broad St., March 1, 1:47

a.m., police arrested a male, 55, of Norman, OK for DUI. Driving under the Influence, 6700 blk. Wilson Blvd., March 1, 3:44 a.m., police arrested a male, 35, of Alexandria, VA for DUI. Larceny, Shoplifting, CVS, 134 W Broad St., March 1, 5:48 p.m., police arrested a male, 64, of NO FIXED ADDRESS, for stealing (6) bottles of Advil. Fraud, 300 blk. Shirley St., March 1, 8:01 p.m., unknown person(s) used victim’s debit card to make unauthorized purchases in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kentucky and Indiana. Disorderly Conduct, 6700 blk. Wilson Blvd., March 1, 10:20 p.m., police arrested a male, 30, of Arlington, VA for Disorderly Conduct. Destruction of Property, Quan Thang Long Restaurant, 6757 Wilson Blvd., #22, March 1, 11:51 p.m., unknown person(s) broke the glass window of the establishment. Liquor Law Violations, 300 blk. W Broad St., March 2, 1:52 a.m., police arrested six underage males for Possession of Alcohol. Liquor Law Violations, Eden Center, 6757 Wilson Blvd., #9, March 2, 3:40 a.m., police arrested a male, 30, of Chantilly, VA for Afterhours Consumption of Alcohol. Driving under the Influence, 600 blk. Hillwood Ave., March 2, 7:44 a.m., police arrested a male, 25, of Arlington, VA for DUI (2nd offense within five years) and Operating outside ASAP Restrictions. Simple Assault, 300 blk. Liberty Ave., March 3, 5:46 p.m., police arrested a male, 35, of Falls Church, VA for Assault and Battery.

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March 6 - 12, 2008

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vehicle to redress citizen concerns, how can it represent a ‘fallacious understanding of the principles of democracy’? The fact that a previous Referendum

was approved in favor of mixed used projects is not relevant, nor does that argument adequately portray the true complexities of a democracy at work. The Right of the citizenry to change their minds, to demand limitations on perceived or real abuse of power, or to vote our leaders out of office, represents the true value and complexity of a democracy in action. Finally sir, as a twenty year resident of

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occasionally. The Februry 28 issue lead story makes glowing and unattributed affirmative/assertive statements about the controversial City Center project, e.g.,”...it will be the single biggest development achievement in the history of Falls Church, and the single biggest boon to the City’s flagging revenue base.” This is in the second paragraph of a news story, not a column or editorial so it should be facts-only. But this statement is highly controversial. Later in the article, but only after the jump to Page 25, arguments against the project are attributed to “opponents of the project.” So Falls Church NewsPress news articles explicitly speak for project proponents while opponents are on their own. Nice work being “fair” (Platform #1), playing no “favorites” (Platform #2), and (especially!) not letting news columns “reflect editorial comment” (Platform #3). Perhaps you need an FCNP Ombudsman to ensure adherence to the Platform. Or you might revise the Platform to reflect your actual journalistic standards. Gabe Goldberg Falls Church

Middle Schooler Hails ‘Aladdin Jr.’ Hit Production Editor, I am a student at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School and was a member of the cast for the recent production of “Alladin Jr.” This was a great experience for me. It taught me more about dedicating yourself to something in order to make it a success. It also gave me a greater understanding of the saying “practice makes perfect.” The dedicated students and teachers who made the production possible stayed after school almost every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday beginning last October. The technical crew did a fabulous job with the scenery, lighting, sound and special effects. I would especially like to thank Mrs. Barbara Piscopo, who directed the show and Mrs. Jeanne Seabridge, who was the technical coordinator. Their commitment and dedication were the heart and soul of this production. Although “Alladin Jr.” was very time-consuming, it was also a very rewarding experience. Many thanks to all who made it possible. I hope to participate again next year. Preston Custer, 6th Grade Falls Church

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March 6 - 12, 2008

Page 7

F.C. Residential Assessments Nosedive, Offset by New Construction

Judge Certifies F.C. Referendum Despite City Concerns

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As expected, residential real estate assessments in the City of Falls Church, announced late yesterday, tanked this past year, down an average 5.5% for single family homes, and 6.5% for residential condominiums. But overall, the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assessments were up by slightly less than 1%, mostly due to new residential and commercial construction. The new construction accounted for 3% of the total assessments as of January 1, according to a statement from the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Public Information Office. Most ($79 million) was due to construction of new mixed use projects in the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commercially-zoned corridors, and $21.9 million was due to new construction of single-family houses. Other increases came in the assessed values of existing multi-family residential properties, up 9.1%, and existing commercial properties, including hotels, retail and office buildings, up 4.7%. Assessments are set at 100% of the fair market price. Property owners in the City will be mailed their individual assessments beginning Monday. The City Council will now use the assessment numbers in crafting its next fiscal year budget, deliberations on which will commence later this month.

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Despite a request for delay by Falls Church City Attorney Roy Thorpe, Arlington Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Kendrick yesterday signed off on the certification of a referendum question that will now appear on the May 6 City of Falls Church municipal election ballot. The question proposes a charter change to limit residential use on any future or pending mixed-use development project in the commerciallyzoned corridors of Falls Church to 40% of the total. Thorpeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request at a hearing in the Arlington Courthouse before Judge Kendrick yesterday morning was motivated by concerns for the language of the referendum, which had not been vetted with any public body by the petitioners prior to be submitted for certification. Thorpe called the language â&#x20AC;&#x153;awkward and not reviewed.â&#x20AC;? He noted that delaying the referendum to November would not impact its outcome, because no proposed charter change can occur without the vote of the Virginia State Legislature, which cannot occur before next January. Present at the hearing on behalf of the referendum was its â&#x20AC;&#x153;petitioner of recordâ&#x20AC;? Sam Mabry, while also calling for a delay was Mike Gardner, who ran the petition campaign for Friends of the City Center, who said that numerous citizens told him they were not fully appraised of the referendumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contents when they were asked to sign a petition to qualify it. F.C. City Councilman David Snyder, in a statement, disapproved of Thorpeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request for delay, saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The use of the taxpayer supported City apparatus in the failed attempt to deny the peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice through referendum on an issue as fundamental as the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future is regrettable and un-democratic.â&#x20AC;? Virginia House May Eliminate HB 599 Law Enforcement Funding The Virginia Municipal League sent out an alert yesterday warning that the Virginia House of Delegates is pushing a budget that â&#x20AC;&#x153;could be the start of the dismantling of a 28-year-old state program that is essential to keeping the public safe in 39 cities, 128 towns and nine counties.â&#x20AC;? The â&#x20AC;&#x153;HB 599â&#x20AC;? funding formula, established in 1979, pays for the equivalent of more than 2,600 police officers across the state. If eliminated, Fairfax County would lose more than $1.7 million, and the City of Falls Church would lose the equivalent of one cent on its real estate tax rate. Moran, Davis Issue Statement on Sovereign Funds Review Northern Virginia Congressmen Jim Moran (D, 8th District) and Tom Davis (R, 11th District) issued a joint statement yesterday as founding members of the House Task Force on Sovereign Wealth Funds. The intention of the task force, they stated, â&#x20AC;&#x153;is to serve to provide a comprehensive understanding of these complex issues.â&#x20AC;? They added, â&#x20AC;&#x153;With the amounts of money involved and the potential effects on our financial markets, its seems critical that many sets of eyes focus on this challenge. As our economy struggles and our dollars become petrodollars at every visit to the gas pump, we all have a vital stake in seeking a safe means to reinvest those dollars back into our own struggling economy. Thus it is vital to understand the complexities, dangers and opportunities represented by foreign investment and government-owned enterprises.â&#x20AC;?

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While most people spent this past Grammy night waiting for the Best Album of the Year upset that no one could have predicted, local resident Scott Shuman was focused elsewhere — on his own newly earned Grammy award. Shuman won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album for his production work on The Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards this year. The album, sponsored by the Blue Shoe Project, featured blues legends Henry Townsend, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins and David “Honeyboy” Edwards performing a concert in Dallas on October 16, 2004. At the time of the concert, the artists ranged from 89 to 94 years of age, and all had received the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship Award, the highest honor in the United States for traditional arts.

March 6 - 12, 2008

Shuman’s involvement with the album came about through a long series of events stretching most of his lifetime, beginning with a lifelong friendship with Henry Townsend established in 1974, when Shuman was only 17 years old. “Henry Townsend was my best friend. I initially learned to record through him in his recording studio in St. Louis. He’s always been a great boost to my career,” says Shuman. Shuman moved to St. Louis in June 1975 to begin playing guitar with Townsend. “Henry had a recording studio in his basement and we’d spend late nights recording and jamming with some of the best musicians in St. Louis.” Throughout the course of his life, Shuman found himself inexplicably intertwined with Townsend and his career. When the opportunity came to participate on this album, Shuman could not refuse. Shuman traveled with the four blues legends down to Dallas, playing guitar at the con-

cert (his guitar work is featured on five tracks on the album). Shuman also co-wrote the track “It’s Got to End Somewhere” with Townsend, which appears on the record. Shuman set up shop in Falls Church with Shuman Recording Studios nearly 12 years ago, as he describes Falls Church as a place with “a lot of creative, supportive people.” He mixed the Grammy award-winning album in his studio and was listed as producer of the album along with Jeff Dyson of the Blue Shoe Project. Knowing the

massive undertaking he had in front of him, Shuman called his friend Paul Grupp, a reputable mixer from Los Angeles to help him out; both are credited as mixing and mastering the album. “When I mixed this, I called Henry and I said, ‘Henry, we’re gonna get a Grammy for this.’ I knew this project was gonna get at least a nomination.” Shuman is no one-trick pony however. He keeps busy with as many projects as he can get his hands on. “I work all the time. I get a

good night’s sleep every night, and the rest of the time, I’m working,” he says. Along with his work on the Grammy award-winning album, Shuman has mixed and mastered over 400 albums, and is showing no signs of slowing down. He is currently working on the 50th Anniversary of Motown for Universal Records, and has worked extensively with all of the major record labels. Time Life Music, impressed by the quality of his work, hired him Continued on Page 37

March 6 - 12, 2008

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March 6 - 12, 2008

The Democratic presidential primary campaign began around Christmas 2006, and it may end Tuesday night. But of all the days between then and now, the most important was Nov. 10, 2007. On that day, the Democratic Party of Iowa held its Jefferson-Jackson dinner and invited the candidates to speak. There were thousands of Democrats sitting around tables on the floor of the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, and rowdy thousands more up in the stands. Hillary Clinton gave a rousing partisan speech. Standing on a stage in the middle of the arena with her arms spread and her voice rising, she welcomed the next president and declared: “We are here tonight to make sure that next president is a Democrat!” She described how change was going to come about in this country: through fighting. She used the word “fight” or “fought” 15 times in one passage of the speech, fighting for health care, fighting for education and women’s rights. Then she vowed to “turn up the heat” on Republicans. “They deserve all the heat we can give them!” she roared. Finally, she described the presidency. It’s a demanding job, she suggested, that requires fortitude, experience and mettle. The next president will bear enormous burdens, she continued. The president’s job is to fight for people who feel invisible and can’t help themselves. Clinton rode the passion of the crowd and delivered an energetic battle cry. And in many elections that sort of speech, delivered around the country, would clinch the nomination. But this is a country in the midst of a crisis of authority, a country that has become disillusioned not only with one president, but with a whole system of politics. It’s a country that has lost faith not only with one institution, but with the entire set of leadership institutions. The cultural context, in other words, allowed for a much broader critique, a much more audacious vocabulary. And Barack Obama leapt right in. He spoke after 11 p.m. The crowd had been sitting for four hours. In the previous months, Obama had been criticized for being bland on the stump. But this night, he unleashed a zealous part of himself that has propelled his candidacy ever since. His first big subject was belief itself. Instead of waging a partisan campaign as Clinton had just

done, he vowed to address “not just Democrats, but Republicans and independents who’ve lost trust in their government but want to believe again.” Then he made a broader attack on the political class, and without mentioning her, threw Clinton in with the decrepit old order. “The same old Washington textbook campaigns just won’t do,” he said, in a now familiar line. He said it was time to “finally tackle problems that George Bush made far worse but that had festered long before George Bush ever took office -- the problems that we’ve talked about year after year after year.” Obama sketched out a different theory of social change than the one Clinton had implied earlier in the evening. Instead of relying on a president who fights for those who feel invisible, Obama, in the climactic passage of his speech, described how change bubbles from the bottom up: “And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world!” For people raised on Jane Jacobs, who emphasized how a spontaneous dynamic order could emerge from thousands of individual decisions, this is a persuasive way of seeing the world. For young people who have grown up on Facebook, YouTube, open-source software and an array of decentralized networks, this is a compelling theory of how change happens. Clinton had sounded like a traditional executive, as someone who gathers the experts, forges a policy, fights the opposition, bears the burdens of power, negotiates the deal and, in crisis, makes the decision at 3 o’clock in the morning. But Obama sounded like a cross between a social activist and a flannel-shirted software CEO - as a nonhierarchical, collaborative leader who can inspire autonomous individuals to cooperate for the sake of common concerns. Clinton had sounded like Old Politics, but Obama created a vision of New Politics. And the past several months have revolved around the choice he framed there that night. Some people are enthralled by the New Politics, and we see their vapors every day. Others think it is a mirage and a delusion. There’s only one politics, and, tragically, it’s the old kind, filled with conflict and bad choices. Hillary Clinton has fought on with amazing resilience since then, and Tuesday night may well bring another surprise, but she’s always been the moon to his sun. That night in November, he defined the campaign.

WASHINGTON -- Let us hope that the next president of the United States knows some history. And let us hope that the next president will know that the United States cannot call all the shots, or pick and choose which leader-dictator we will talk to or decide which countries can have unconventional weapons. In other words, the U.S. should not rely totally on the arrogance of its formidable power in its foreign relations. That is why the performance of the New York Philharmonic in the Stalinist-style closed society of North Korea is a remarkable breakthrough. Music is the universal language. In the case of North Korea, the New York Philharmonic’s concert last week may be viewed years from now as the small step that eventually opened the way

for more cultural contacts and understanding between two countries that have been at swordpoint since the 1950-53 Korean War. Overwhelmed by the warm reception in Pyongyang, North Korea, Lorin Maazel, the Philharmonic’s music director, told reporters: “I think it’s going to do a great deal for KoreanU.S relations. We may have been instrumental in opening a little door.” The White House did all it could to play down its significance. “At the end of the day,” press secretary Dana Perino said, “we consider this concert to be a concert. And it’s not a diplomatic coup.” How naive can you get? Yes, it is a coup after years of hostility; the concert is already being hailed as “symphonic diplomacy.” Personally, I wish the Philharmonic had played George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” instead of his “An American in Paris.” But it was Continued on Page 42

After their victory in the 2006 congressional elections, it seemed a given that Democrats would try to make this year’s presidential campaign another referendum on Republican policies. After all, the public appears fed up not just with President Bush, but with his party. For example, a recent poll by the Pew Research Center shows Democrats are preferred on every issue except terrorism. They even have a 10-point advantage on “morality.” Add to this the fact that perceptions about the economy are worsening week by week, and one might have expected the central theme of the Democratic campaign to be “throw the bums out.” But a funny thing happened on the way to the 2008 election. Unless Hillary Clinton wins big on Tuesday, Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee. And he’s not at all the kind of candidate one might have expected to emerge out of the backlash against Republican governance. Now, nobody would mistake Obama for a Republican -although contrary to claims by both supporters and opponents, his voting record places him, with Clinton, more or less in the center of the Democratic Party, rather than in its progressive wing. But Obama, instead of emphasizing the harm done by the other party’s rule, likes to blame both sides for our sorry political state. And in his speeches he promises not a rejection of Republicanism but an era of postpartisan unity. That -- along with his adoption of conservative talking points on the crucial issue of health care -- is why Obama’s rise has caused such division among progressive activists, the very people one might have expected to be unified and energized by the prospect of finally ending the long era of Republican political dominance. Some progressives are appalled by the direction their party seems to have taken: they wanted another FDR, yet feel that they’re getting an oratorically upgraded version of Michael Bloomberg instead. Others, however, insist that Obama’s message of hope and his personal charisma will yield an overwhelming electoral victory, and that he will implement a dramatically progressive agenda. The trouble is that faith in Obama’s transformational ability rests on surprisingly little evidence. Obama’s ability to attract wildly enthusiastic crowds to rallies is a good omen for the general election; so is his ability to raise large sums. But neither necessarily points to a landslide victory. Polling numbers aren’t much help: for now, at least, you can find polls telling you anything you want to hear, from the CBS News/New York Times poll giving Obama a 12-point national advantage over John McCain to the Mason-Dixon poll showing McCain winning Florida by 10 points. What we do know is that Obama has never faced a serious Republican opponent -- and that he has not yet faced the hostile media treatment doled out to every Democratic presidential candidate since 1988. Yes, I know that both the Obama campaign and many reporters deny that he has received more favorable treatment than Hillary Clinton. But they’re kidding, right? Dana Milbank, the Washington Post national political reporter, told the truth back in December: “The press will savage her no matter what they really have the knives out for her, there’s no question about it {hellip} Obama gets significantly better coverage.” If Obama secures the nomination, the honeymoon will be over as he faces an opponent whom much of the press loves as much as it hates Clinton. If Clinton can do nothing right, McCain can do nothing wrong -- even when he panders outrageously, he’s forgiven because he looks uncomfortable doing it. Honest. Bob Somerby of the media-criticism site dailyhowler.com predicts that Obama will be “Dukakised”: “treated as an alien, unsettling presence.” That sounds all too plausible. If Obama does make it to the White House, will he actually deliver the transformational politics he promises? Like the faith that he can win an overwhelming electoral victory, the faith that he can overcome bitter conservative opposition to progressive legislation rests on very little evidence -- one productive year in the Illinois state Senate, after the Democrats swept the state, and not much else. And some Illinois legislators apparently feel that even there Obama got a bit more glory than he deserved. “No one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit,” one state senator complained to a local journalist. All in all, the Democrats are in a place few expected a year ago. The 2008 campaign, it seems, will be waged on the basis of personality, not political philosophy. If the magic works, all will be forgiven. But if it doesn’t, the recriminations could tear the party apart.

March 6 - 12, 2008

Now it’s time for a real campaign. Until Sen. Hillary Clinton’s recovery with victories in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island Tuesday, she had to box with a chimera, an illusive, intangible thing called “Big Mo,” Sen. Barack Obama’s oratorydriven momentum. In fact, it was the momentum itself which was the strongest thing that Obama had going for him, building up steam in the south and feeding off the image of an unstoppable force. Rock concert-like public rallies, screaming fans, adolescent adoration, shallow slogans, and only a single word, “change,” generated a frenzy that had many Democratic Party regulars worrying that they’d be left in the dust if they didn’t jump onto this accelerating bandwagon. Part of the reality check that began to sink in with Democratic voters in Texas and Ohio had to do with the inevitability of Sen. John McCain’s nomination by the GOP. This man’s obvious seniority and experience began to make some wonder if Obama would fare so well in November in a direct face-off. In addition, it was not some of the better-publicized minigaffs by the Obama campaign that began to hurt him, but the monotonous Johnny One Note content of his message. It gets a little old, and in a hurry, that whenever the issue of Iraq arises, either from McCain or Clinton, Obama goes back to the same old well, criticizing the decision to invade in the first place. It’s time he stopped boring us about five years ago, and started talking about how he’d be the person to handle the situation going forward. A second turn-off for many Democrats, according to my reports, has been the glib manner in which Obama has talked favorably about Republicans. He has often reprised his stump speech segment recalling a citizen who approached him and in a very low voice said, “I support you, and I’m a Republican.” “That’s a good thing,” Obama recalls replying, adding, “So, why are we whispering?” To a lot of Democrats, being proud of wooing Republicans has begun to raise some important questions such as, “What is it about your program that Republicans like better than McCain or Clinton’s?,” and, “If Republicans like those things about you so much, why should Democrats?” If Republicans are out to perpetuate Republican values and programs, what is it about Obama that they like so much? Only lately have the awestruck among the Obama legions even begun to ask such questions. It has become clear, for example, that Clinton’s health care program is far more comprehensive and inclusive than Obama’s, which is one big thing making Obama preferable in the minds of Republican free market types. Of course, the vast majority of Americans have concurred through polling that the media has been a lot harder on Clinton than Obama. On CNN last week, just after a segment showing some defensive journalists in a state of denial, there came a report on the difference between Clinton’s and Obama’s health care plans. In it, they lifted uncritically Obama’s characterization of the differences as if it was factual. They reported that Clinton’s mandates full coverage, while Obama’s is voluntary. That is not what distinguishes them, in essence, at all. Then CNN Correspondent Jessica Yellin, covering Clinton’s comeback victories Tuesday, proved that she was still drawing her lines directly from Obama’s campaign, characterizing Clinton’s “It’s 3 A.M. in the Morning” TV ad as “negative campaigning.” That’s how Obama characterized it during a sour grapes reaction to Tuesday’s outcomes. But to most Americans, the TV ad did not attack Obama, it did not slur or misrepresent him. It merely asked a question that caused voters to think, using an artful way of causing viewers to compare the experience factors of one candidate against the other. What is negative about that? Now maybe with the “Big Mo” factor neutralized, between this week and the Democratic National Convention, and at it, the battle for the Democratic nomination can get down to real cases and real issues. Whichever candidate comes out on top, I feel much better now about the process going forward than worried that mass hysteria will determine the outcome.  Nicholas Benton may be emailed at nfbenton@fcnp.com

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Some women in their 30s, 40s and early-50s who favor Barack Obama have a phrase to describe what they don’t like about Hillary Clinton: Shoulder-pad feminism. They feel that women have moved past that men-arepigs, woe-is-me, sisters-muststick-together, pantsuits-are-powerful era that Hillary’s campaign has lately revived with a vengeance. And they don’t like Gloria Steinem and other old-school feminists trying to impose gender discipline and a call to order on the sisters. As a woman I know put it: “Hillary doesn’t make it look like fun to be a woman. And her ‘Ihave-been-victimized’ campaign is depressing.” But Hillary — carried on the padded shoulders of the older women in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island who loved her “I Will Survive” rallying cry that “I am a little older and I have earned every wrinkle on my face” — has been saved to fight another day. Exit polls have showed that fans of Hillary — who once said they would be happy with Obama if Hillary dropped out — were hardening in their opposition to him, while Obama voters were not so harsh about her. Three Hillary volunteers, older women from Boston, approached a New York Times reporter in an Austin, Tex., parking lot on Tuesday to vent that Hillary hasn’t gotten a fair shake from the press. They said that they used to like Obama but now can’t stand him because they think he has been cocky and disrespectful to Hillary. As Hillary, remarkably and cleverly, put Obama on the defensive about a real estate deal, health care and Nafta, her campaign ratcheted up the retro battle of the sexes when they sent Dianne Feinstein onto the Fox News Sundaymorning talk show to promote the idea that Hillary should not be forced out, regardless of the results of Tuesday’s primaries, simply because she’s a woman. “For those of us that are part of ‘a woman need not apply’ generation that goes back to the time I went out to get my first job following college and a year of graduate work, this is an extraordinarily critical race,” the senator said. With Obama saying the hour is upon us to elect a black man and Hillary saying the hour is upon us to elect a woman, the Democratic primary has become the ultimate nightmare of liberal identity politics. All the victimizations go tripping over each other and colliding, a competition of historical guilts.

People will have to choose which of America’s sins are greater, and which stain will have to be removed first. Is misogyny worse than racism, or is racism worse than misogyny? As it turns out, making history is actually a way of being imprisoned by history. It’s all about the past. Will America’s racial past be expunged or America’s sexist past be expunged? As Ali Gallagher, a white Hillary volunteer in Austin told The Washington Post’s Krissah Williams: “A friend of mine, a black man, said to me, ‘My ancestors came to this country in chains; I’m voting for Barack.’ I told him, ‘Well, my sisters came here in chains and on their periods; I’m voting for Hillary.’ ” And meanwhile, the conventional white man sits on the Republican side and enjoys the spectacle of the Democrats’ identity pileup and victim lock. Just as Michelle Obama urged blacks to support her husband, many shoulder-pad feminists are growing more fierce in charging that women who let Obama leapfrog over Hillary are traitors. Julie Acevedo, a precinct captain for Obama in Austin, noticed that things were getting uglier on Friday, during the early voting, when she “saw some very angry women just stomping by us to go vote for Hillary. They cut us off when we tried to talk about Barack. “I’m 46,” Ms. Acevedo, a fund-raiser for state politicians, said Tuesday night. “Maybe I missed it by a few years, but I don’t know why these women are so fueled by such hostility and think other women are misogynists if they don’t vote for Hillary. It’s insulting and disturbing.” She said that if Obama definitively outpaces Hillary, she will work to “heal the wounds” and woo back women who are now angry at him. Watching Bill Clinton greet but not address — the Big Dog has been muzzled — an excited group of students at Texas State University in San Marcos on Tuesday, 19-year-old Allison Krolczyk said she was leaning toward Obama and felt no gender guilt about voting for him. “Not at all,” she said. “I think they’re both pretty amazing.” The crowd held up their camera phones to capture the former president, in his bright orange tie and orange-brown ostrich cowboy boots. “We love you, Bill!” yelled one boy. “You did a good job, except for Monica.”

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When openly gay Gene Robinson was elected Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, the Nigerian Archbishop, Peter J. Akinola, called the event “Satanic.” However, after reading the latest issue of Atlantic Magazine, it appears that Akinola is the one whose behavior is modeled on the devil. According to the article, Muslim fanatics attacked Christian worshippers in the Nigerian town of Yelwa in February 2004. They set fire to a church and murdered anyone who tried to escape - leaving 78 people dead. In retaliation, members of the Christian Association of Nigeria, led, at the time, by Akinola, surrounded the town. The vigilantes murdered 660 Muslims - while torching twelve mosques and 300 houses. In a state that lacks law and order, it is somewhat understandable that the Christians might take matters into their own hands - as they certainly have a right to defend themselves. What is unconscionable, however, is the gratuitous cruelty and downright evil that occurred on Akinola’s watch. Far from Christian, one might equate the ghastly reprisals in Yelwa with a tyrant like Saddam Hussein - not an Anglican Bishop. Were Akinola’s “Christian” warriors exemplifying the love of Jesus while raping pregnant Muslim women in the village? Were these thugs asking, “What would Jesus do” when they forced Muslims to eat pork and dog meat, while washing it down with forbidden alcohol? Was it somehow “spiritual” to burn corpses in the street? And, how “holy” was it to hack to death children as young as nine with machetes; then put the bloody pieces in a rubber tire and set fire to it? This was not simply retaliation, but terrorism. It was demonic behavior in the name of religion that had nothing to do with self-defense. According to Human Rights Watch, there is no “smoking gun” definitively showing that the Archbishop ordered the massacre. However, he was clearly in charge of the group implicated and could barely hide his glee in the Atlantic article. When asked point-blank about the incident, Akinola said, “No comment,” while he grinned. He went on to add, “No Christian would pray for violence, but it would be utterly naive to sweep this issue of Islam under the carpet. I’m not out to combat anybody. I’m only doing what the Holy Spirit tells me to do. I’m living my faith, practicing and preaching that Jesus Christ is the one and only way to God...I’ve said before: let no Muslim think they have the monopoly on violence.” Clearly, Akinola is unrepentant and sounds more like a warlord than a leader of worship. As a result of the slaughter, the Archbishop lost his bid to continue heading the Christian Association of Nigeria. However, he is still the primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria and a powerful voice in condemning homosexuality across the globe. Indeed, while Akinola is soft on his preferred sin of murder, he never turns the other cheek on gay rights. He has provocatively called Europe “a spiritual desert” and chastised the Church of England for failing to oppose civil partnership laws, which, he said, give, “the appearance of evil.” In 2006, Akinola supported a proposed Draconian law in Nigeria that would have effectively banned the “promotion” of homosexuality - punishing violators with up to five years imprisonment. Tragically, while the Archbishop is fixated on gay people, Nigeria remains one of the poorest and most corrupted nations on earth. According Human Rights Watch, up to $8 billion is embezzled annually, while nearly half the population lives on less than $1 a day. With such a contemptible record, one would expect Anglican Church leaders to marginalize Akinola. It seems, however, the church would rather coddle this butcher, because they care more about membership than morality. Most appalling are the American churches that have left the Episcopal Church to align themselves with the Church of Nigeria. It doesn’t seem to bother them that they are this madman’s enablers. As such, these “conservatives” should be held accountable for any future atrocities committed by Akinola. If Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had any guts, he’d use every tool at his disposal to make Akinola an international pariah. All Bishops with a conscience should also refuse to take Holy Communion with Akinola - and he should be prohibited from attending major conferences. In the last Democratic debate - Hillary Clinton said that Barack Obama should not just denounce, but reject the Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan. (Obama did both). Likewise, Anglican leaders must denounce and reject Akinola if they want to regain their moral authority. The only appropriate place for Akinola on the International stage is The Hague - where he should be tried for crimes against humanity. 

March 6 - 12, 2008

There’s a highly charged debate going on in Congress over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (commonly referred to as FISA). The FISA law was enacted in 1978 in response to revelations of electronic surveillance abuses by the Nixon Administration. It has come to provide the statutory framework our intelligence agencies use to collect foreign intelligence information by electronically surveiling foreign powers and their agents, both inside and out of the U.S. The current FISA law has worked well for over thirty years. In my view, it strikes an appropriate balance between our national security concerns and our civil liberties. In three decades, the secret FISA court has never turned down a single request for a surveillance warrant. A warrant can be obtained literally within minutes. If that’s too long to wait, the surveillance can be carried out and a warrant requested after the fact. An updating of this law to reflect technological advances is warranted, but the real contention in this debate involves whether or not to give the major telecommunications carriers retroactive legal immunity, meaning they cannot be held accountable by the public for any illegal wiretapping that may have occurred in the early years of the Bush Administration. After 9/11, some telecom carriers coordinated with the Bush Administration to carry out possibly illegal, warrantless surveillance on American citizens, bypassing the FISA law in the name of national

security. In an effort to get the telecom industry retroactive legal immunity, the President and his allies in Congress are trying to scare the public into believing that without their version of FISA, which strips the courts of much of its oversight role, the intelligence agencies cannot do their jobs and thus we are less safe.

Our nation is supposed to be governed by the rule of law within a balance of powers -- not unilateral decisions by the executive branch. We must not sacrifice our constitutional rights wholesale in the name of national security. The current FISA law, with minor adjustments to account for changes in telecommunications infrastructure, strikes that balance. The House stands ready to pass a FISA update today, but not with language giving a free pass to the telecom providers who teamed with the administration to infringe on Americans’ civil liberties. That is a matter which should be decided in a court of law.

March 6 - 12, 2008

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A Penny for Your Thoughts

Delegate Jim Scott’s

News of Greater Falls Church

Richmond Report

The phones started ringing and ethough Fairfax County does not tax mail traffic picked up Tuesday afterland and structures at different rates. noon, just about the time reassessment The Board of Supervisors sets the real notices first appeared in homeowner’s estate tax rate, but does not have authormailboxes. As predicted, most homity to set or adjust assessments. eowner assessments decreased overWhat’s next? In response to my all, but it was how they declined that concerns and those also expressed by shocked taxpayers and the Board of my Board colleagues, DTA will underSupervisors alike. Land values went take a review of the assessment splits By Penny Gross way up, and house values went way for residential properties in Fairfax Mason District down. For one Mason District homCounty. According to DTA staff, the Supervisor; eowner, whose overall assessment bottom line assessment is not likely to Fairfax County decreased, the land value was $325,000, Board of Supervisors change, but homeowners may receive an increase of $145,000; the house new notices reflecting a reallocation was valued at $62,960, a decrease of more than of house values to land values. Homeowners $200,000! Another Mason District homeowner in may call 703/222-8284 to talk to a DTA staff Falls Church saw her land value more than dou- appraiser. Administrative appeals of assessments ble, while the house value dropped to $54,210. must be filed with DTA by April 18. Appeals to What happened? According to Fairfax the Board of Equalization must be filed by June County’s Department of Tax Administra-tion 2. Additional information is available on the (DTA), the values are not reversed. This year, county’s Web site: www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dta. DTA staff explained, a new method-ology was J.E.B. Stuart High School’s annual Taste of used that allocated a greater share of the total the Town will be held this Sunday, March 9, assessments to the land, and a smaller share to the from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the school, 3301 Peace house itself. When setting the 2008 assessments Valley Lane in Falls Church. Participating restauby neighborhood, appraisers reviewed improved rants include the German Gourmet, Duangrat’s, property sales to determine the total assessed Raaga, Bentley’s Catering, Moe’s Southwest Grill, value, and then allocated the land value based Chipotle, Olive Garden, and freshly roasted coffee on land sales. The balance of the value was then from Annandale’s own Beanetics. Also included in attributed to the house. Real estate taxes are paid the festivities are silent and live auctions, Spanish based on the total assessment. Approximately 71 club dancers, madrigal singers, and the J.E.B. percent of residential properties had assessment Stuart Jazz Band and Orchestra. Tickets are $15 in decreases this year, DTA staff said. advance (call Susan Solomon in the Stuart guidWhy are land and house values listed separately ance office at 703/824-3922), $18 at the door, and on assessment notices? Most states do not require $8 for students. See you Sunday at Stuart! the value to be split; tax notices simply focus on the bottom line. In Virginia, however, state law  Supervisor Penny Gross may be emailed at requires that land and house values be split, even mason@fairfaxcounty.gov

Marshall 1; General Assembly McDonnell 0 calls them “fees.” How ironic. Bob Marshall A very conservawins. Bob tive Republican McDonnell loses. delegate without And hundreds of a law degree has millions of dollars a better handle for Metro, Dulles on the Virginia Rail support, local By Jim Scott Constitution than road improvements Delegate Scott the Attorney and bus service represents the 53rd District in the General of Virginia are lost unless the Virginia House of who has a law General Assembly Delegates degree, has praccorrects the misticed law and was take the Attorney elected to be Virginia’s law- General advised us to make. yer. It is his failure as a lawEven worse-----yer that caused the General House Republicans are Assembly to pass very a insisting on dramatic changflawed transportation fund- es to public education funding measure that the Virginia ing. They have proposed Supreme Court unanimously cutting the state’s obligation declared null and void. to finance public education Last year most of us from by changing the funding forNorthern Virginia voted for mula called the Standards of HB 3202, Speaker Howell’s Quality to reduce dramatitransportation funding bill. In cally the Commonwealth’s spite of its inadequacy and support of local public poor construction, local gov- schools. ernments asked us to support Beginning in the 2010 bienit because we were all desper- nial budget, the Department ate for funding for mass tran- of Education and the Virginia sit and road improvements. Education Association, the And Attorney General Virginia Municipal League Bob McDonnell opined and the Virginia Association that it was constitutional. of Counties and the Virginia Without McDonnell’s assur- School Boards Association ance, I believe its passage have estimated that local was unlikely. As a result school systems with lose as of the McDonnell opin- much as $400 million in state ion, the Northern Virginia support. Transportation Authority In short, localities will (NVTA) adopted several rev- either have to cut teachers enue measures and call them and support personnel or “fees,” not “taxes.” raise property taxes to avoid Shortly after HB 3202 undermining the commitment was signed by the Governor, we have historically made to Delegate Bob Marshall of public education. Prince William County filed Only the new and very nara suit contesting the constitu- row Democratic majority in tionality of the NVTA-adopt- the Senate and the Governor ed taxes. Many may recall can stop it during the negotiathat Marshall was the chief tions on the budget. With no sponsor and advocate of the budget conferees in the House constitutional amendment from Northern Virginia, it banning gay marriage and will not be easy, but Northern civil unions. Marshall also Virginia has three confereeshas frequently introduced leg- --Senators Colgan, Howell islation to ban abortion and and Saslaw—in the Senate. contraception. Unless there is agreement Last Friday, the Virginia by Saturday, we may have Supreme Court unanimously to have another special sesdisagreed. sion—this time to resolve It ruled that only the both transportation and eduCommonwealth or legally cation funding. established regional governments or local governments  Delegate Jim Scott may be could impose taxes, even if the emailed at deljscott@aol.com

Our Man in Arlington On Monday, the Washington Post carried a provocative story about the perennial debate in the college and university community about the nature of an undergraduate curriculum. In a nutshell, the debate is between the relative merits of a curriculum designed to provide high level skills in an increasingly profesichard sional job marBarton ket as opposed a more general understanding of history and culture. As the headline put it, “Balancing Academic Tradition and Skills Employers Demand.” I approach this debate from several perspectives: as a college student in the 1950’s, ‘60’s and now; as a college instructor in the 1960’s and now; and as a former member of George Mason University’s Board of Visitors. My basic belief is that a college education should be principally designed to greatly expand students’ circles of knowledge; to introduce students to intellectual concepts, culture, literature, music, economic theories, theoretical mathematics and languages;

and to give them the ability to articulate the knowledge they have gained. In the vernacular, it is called readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic. Don’t get me wrong. Developing specific skills is important: engineering, premedical training, business skills – to name just a few. But college is there primarily to expand your vision, not restrict it. More specific skills should be developed as part of a postgraduate education. After reading the story, Jean and I reflected on our college experiences in the late 1950’s, she at William and Mary and I at LSU. Jean was the first in her family to finish high school. For her, college was a path to world she barely knew existed. At William and Mary, she took a required core curriculum of English, History, Philosophy, Science, and Arts. She told me of the time she first heard the words of Lewis Carroll’s “The Jabberwocky.” “’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths

outgrabe.” She delighted in the Arts Survey Course that included architecture, visual arts, and theatre from ancient times to the 1950s. General, yes; but broadening, definitely. Jean had discovered a new world, a world in which she lives and thrives to this day. My experience was not as dramatic, but it was equally thrilling. I remember being absolutely stunned hearing for the first time Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” in my required music appreciation class, propelling me into the marvels of Twentieth Century classical music. I read some great classics in the original Greek language, absorbed absolutely great lectures on American history by one of the great historians of the day, and studied symbolic logic with a dour, but powerful Philosophy professor. I learned how to think. This, to me, is what college should be all about – broadening horizons and discovering new worlds. Richard Barton may be emailed at rbarton@towervillas.com 

News-Press On the Web: www.FCNP.com

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March 6 - 12, 2008

Dulin Preschool 2008 Spring Auction The annual Dulin Preschool Spring Auction will be taking place on Saturday, March 8 from 6 – 9 p.m. at Dulin United Methodist Church, Fellowship Hall (513 E. Broad St., Falls Church). This is an adultonly event, with all proceeds

going directly to improve the value of the Dulin education. Attendees can participate in both a live and silent auction, with getaways for couples and families, event tickets and gift certificates to local restaurants and businesses up for grabs. For more information, contact Beth Ann Hellert hellertba@ aol.com or Laura Martin at

lkmartin68@verizon.net. Internet Safety Presentation The Falls Church Schools Health Advisory Board and Family Life Education Advisory Committee will be holding a special presentation on Internet Safety on Thursday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Mary Ellen Henderson Cafetorium (7130 Leesburg Pike., Falls Church). Barbara Gill, Internet Safety and Professional Training Coordinator for Childhelp, USA, will present the pro-

gram. The two groups hope to educate parents on the uses and dangers of the Internet for their children. For more information, contact Melanie Elliott at elliottm@fccps.org. U-11 Boys Soccer Tryouts Want the chance to join a brand new soccer team? If born between the dates of Aug. 1, 1996 and July 31, 1997, players are eligible to join a new U-11 Suburban Friendship League team in Falls Church this spring. Three to four players are still

needed. Prospective players must have some soccer experience and will need to be available for Tuesday evening practices and weekend games. All games are local and the cost is the same as recreational soccer. If interested, contact Scott Sevart at ssevart@cox. net or call 703-725-7285. Naomi Project Volunteer Training The Naomi Project needs volunteers who will be trained to serve as mentors to disadvantaged pregnant women and new mothers in the

THE PROVIDENCE PLAYERS CONTINUE their 10th anniversary season with their community theater production of “Moon Over Buffalo.” The production stars Falls Church resident and Providence Players member Patrick David (at left in the above photo with Beth Whitehead). Above right, Whitehead, James Martin, David and Mary Goss act out a scene. The comedy by Ken Ludwig will be performed this Friday and Saturday at the James Lee Community Center (2855 Annandale Rd., Falls Church). Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for children and seniors. For more information on the performance, visit www.providenceplayers.org. (Photos: Chip Gertzog, Providence Players)

Dr. Madeline Hidalgo Dental Health Q&A Dear Dr. Madeline,

Q: What Do I Do When I Have a Tooth Ache? A: Begin by cleaning around the sore tooth meticulously.

Using warm salt water, rinse the mouth to displace any food trapped between teeth. Under no circumstances should you use aspirin on the aching tooth or on the gum. You should call your dentist immediately if you have any swelling or fever associated with the toothache. Apply cold compresses to the swollen area and take acetaminophen (Tylenol) to manage the pain and fever until you are able to see us. You should see your dentist as soon as possible.

Dr. Madeline Hidalgo, Cosmetic & Family Dentistry An expert in all phases of modern dentistry, including the perfect smiles.

Send your questions to: Dr. Madeline Hidalgo 6521 Arlington Boulevard #112 Falls Church, VA 22042 • 703-237-9025 drhidalgo@mysmileydentist.com • www.mysmileydentist.com

March 6 - 12, 2008

Northern Virginia area. The mission of the Naomi Project is to promote healthy pregnancies, babies and mothers. A training session is being held on Saturday, March 8 from 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Falls Church Presbyterian Church (225 E. Broad St., Falls Church). $20 registration fee covers a background check, study materials and lunch. Spanish-speaking volunteers are especially needed. For more information, contact Pilar Jones at 703-860-2633 or naomiproject@hotmail.com. Repressed III Opening Reception This Friday, March 7, Repressed III, an exhibition dedicated to socially conscious works, will be having its opening reception hosted at Gallery5 (200 W. Marshall St., Richmond) at from 7 – 11 p.m. Featuring works by artists nationwide, the opening reception for Repressed III will also offer an interactive multimedia installation designed by the Gallery5 Crew called “Your City,” live music and live theatrical and puppet performances. For more information, visit Gallery5’s website at www. gallery5arts.org or contact gallery5@gallery5arts.org Hands On Show With Chrysanthemum Society On Sunday, March 9, the Old Dominion Chrysanthemum Society will present a one hour Hands On and Slide program with a Q&A period with award winning grower and Master Mum Judge, Carmen Keister, on “Tips and Techniques used to grow Blue Ribon quality Big Beautiful Mums in Hanging Baskets.” The meeting will take place at the Falls Church Community Center (223 Little Falls St., Falls Church) at 1:30 p.m. Open to the public, with free admission and refreshments. For more information, contact Jim Dunne at 703-560-8776

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or visit www.odscmums.org. Local Recognized for Market America Success Falls Church resident Vickie Theodoropoulos recently advanced within the ranks of Market America to become Coordinator as an Independent Distributor. Market America is a product brokerage and Internet marketing company with more than three million customers and 160,000 Distributors worldwide. James Ridinger, president and CEO of Market America, attributes Theodoropoulos’ advancement to her application of Market America’s business strategies and outstanding sales success. For more information, visit www.marketamerica.com

Department chair, will give a presentation on “The Lingering Death of Superstition” before receiving the 2008 NCAS Philip J. Klass Award for his contributions to the fields of critical thinking and scientific understanding. The ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. at the National Science Foundation (4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington) and is free and open to the public. The event is presented by the National Capital Area Skeptics. For more informa-

tion, visit www.ncas.org or call 301-587-3827. John Bolton Launches Perspective Series The Fairfax County Public Library and the McLean Community Center are launching their Perspective Series on Tuesday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Alden Theater in the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean) with a talk from John

Bolton, former Ambassador to the U.N. from 2005 – 2006. He will present “America, International Security and the Future,” a survey of world trouble spots and a discussion of U.S. economic and security interests in these regions. Free tickets will be available at the Alden Theater beginning at 7 p.m. on the evening of the event, with a limit of four tickets per person, first come, first served. For more information, call 703-324-8428.

Free Arlington Philharmonic Concert The Arlington Philharmonic is performing a free concert open to the public on Sunday, March 9 at 3 p.m. in the Kenmore Middle School auditorium (200 S. Carlin Springs Rd., Arlington). The Philharmonic, now in its third full season, will present the music of Tchaikovsky, Bizet and Mozart. Victor Danchenko, a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory and current faculty member of the Curtis Institute and the Peabody Conservatory of Music, will be the featured soloist during the Tchaikovsky concerto. Since its creation, the Arlington Philharmonic has adopted a free concert policy to make its music available to the largest audience possible. More information is available at www.arlingtonphilharmonic.org. Maryland Professor to Receive NCAS Award On Saturday, March 8, Robert L. Park, Ph.D., a University of Maryland professor and former Physics

FLY LIKE AN EAGLE: All 11 members of the Viking Patrol gathered together on Saturday at the Troop 681 Scout House in Falls Church to honor two of the final Patrol members to attain the rank of Eagle Scout, Nicholas Choppa (with family top right) and Daniel Coleman (with family top left). Only five-percent of all scouts attain that status. Below the 11 members of the Viking Patrol pose together. From left to right: Nicholas Choppa, Will Douthit, Patrick Donnelly, Seann Archibald, Evan Martin, John Goodwin, Tim McCabe, Sam Dowell, Joseph Donahoe, Daniel Coleman and Andrew Kotyk. (PHOTO: KAREN KASMAUSKI)

March 6 - 12, 2008

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March 6 - 12, 2008

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Investment Property in Westover! Fully rented “stacked” duplex. Each separately metered unit has 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, full kitchen, hardwood floors, and off-street parking. Lower apartment features wood deck, two entrances, clothes washer and dryer with nice storage in the partitioned basement. Upper unit has its own washer/dryer and access to generous storage in basement. Opportunity to live in one and rent the other or convert to a single family detached home in trendy and convenient Westover. Huge upside potential! Serious buyers and real estate professionals are encouraged to call Pierre or Sarah for details or check out 1201 N. Kenilworth Street priced at $690,000. Sarah & Pierre Bouscaren 703-284-9359 or 9324 cell: 703-307-1331 www.Bouscaren.com

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Roadrunner Sports, featuring “Your Perfect Fit. Guaranteed”, has opened its new location in East Falls Plaza at 1120-1150 W. Broad Street in Falls Church. The new store, which carries a wide variety of running shoes, trail shoes, casual shoes, apparel and accessories, is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The official grand opening will be Friday, March 7 and Saturday March 8. *** More than 140 restaurants, including Argia’s and zPizza in Falls Church, are participating in Dining Out for Life on Thursday, March 6. On that date, 25% to 100% of your bill will be donated to Food & Friends to provide home-delivered meals and nutrition services to more than 2,800 men, women and children facing HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses. For more information visit www.diningoutforlife.com. *** A number of local businesses and organizations are participating in this month’s FIRSTfriday of Falls Church. On Friday, March 7, Art and Frame of Falls Church, Falls Church Arts, Clay Café Studios, The Arc of Northern Virginia, Ireland’s Four Provinces, Impulsive, Curves, Stifel and Capra, Sunrise of Falls Church and PNC Bank will all be hosting events featuring local artists. Additionally, Argia’s, Clare and Don’s, Ireland’s Four Provinces, Pilin Thai Restaurant and Maneki Neko Japanese Restaurant are all offering FIRSTfriday specials. For details about these events and special offers, visit www.firstfridayoffallschurch.com. *** The Arc of Northern Virginia is celebrating its first year anniversary in their new space with an Open House from 6 to 9 p.m. in conjunction with FIRSTfriday on Friday, March 7. The Arc is located at 98 N. Washington Street in Falls Church. Refreshments will be provided by Red Hot and Blue. Reservations are required. Call 703-532-3214 x 103. *** Anyone interested in spending St. Patrick’s Day at Ireland’s Four Provinces should hurry and book their reservation now while there is still space available. Lunch reservations are available for 11 a.m., 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. seatings. Dinner reservations are available for 5:00 pm, 7 p.m., and 9 p.m. seatings. The special menu includes soup or salad, choice of special Irish entree (Irish Stew, Corned Beef & Cabbage, Sheppard’s Pie, Cottage Pie, Fish & Chips, etc) and Bailey’s Irish Mouse. Call 703-534-8999 for reservations or information regarding their special St. Patrick’s Day catering options. Ireland’s Four Provinces is located at 105 W. Broad Street in Falls Church. *** The Original Pancake House is serving “Green Eggs and Ham” on St. Patrick’s Day, Monday, March 17. The eggs will be green, the ham pink and the pancakes green. Then, on Thursday, March 27 OPH will donate 15% of their total sales for that day to the Falls Church Education Foundation. The Original Pancake House, open for breakfast and lunch, is located at 370 W. Broad Street in Falls Church. *** Falls Church’s Elevation Burger has announced a new partnership with Fransmart, an Alexandria based franchise development company. With plans for five additional corporate restaurants to be open by 2010, Elevation Burger is also targeting key markets in D.C. and Northern Virginia such as Alexandria, Ballston and Herndon for multi-unit franchise development and already has a number of prospective franchisees identified for supplementary markets around the metro. Elevation Burger was founded by Hans and April Hess in September 2005. The restaurant offers fresh organic burgers and its patented fresh fries cooked in olive oil. Restaurants are 1,500-2,000 square feet and seat 25 to 90 guests with outdoor seating. For more information or if you are interested in franchising please visit www.elevationburger.com or contact Katie Magers at 214-520-7152 or katiem@fransmart.com. *** The five sponsorships offered for the 2nd Falls Church Elementary PTA Home & Garden Tour have been completely sold out more than two months before the event date of Sunday, May 4, 2008. The Tour’s Title Sponsor is Falls Church Cabinetry, LLC. Additional event supporters include four Premiere Sponsors, Moore Architects, PC, Cox Communications, Terra Landscape & Design and Pie-Tanza Restaurant. The event is scheduled for Sunday, May 4, 2008, from noon – 4 p.m. To purchase tickets, please visit www.fallschurchpta.org/hgtour. For more information, please contact the Home & Garden Tour chairpersons Andrea Roberson (703-403-2487) and Mary Asel (703-532-7064.) *** As part of Falls Church Arts’ Gallery Without Walls program, local businesses and organizations are exhibiting artwork created by area artists. All work will be on display through May, 2008. The Falls Church Housing Corporation’s Winter Hill Clubhouse (330B South Virginia Avenue) is featuring photographic images by noted artist Bob Witt. The VA Tech/UVA Northern Virginia Center Library on Haycock Road is featuring the paintings of Lisa Neher. Capital Area Pediatrics (Suite 100 at 407 N. Washington Street) is featuring artwork created by students from Thomas Jefferson Elementary School. Burke & Herbert Bank (225 W. Broad Street) is exhibiting photographic images of Sharjeel Javaid. And last, but hardly least, Falls Church’s City Hall (300 Park Avenue) is featuring the photography of Shaun van Steyn. For more information about how your business can participate in this free program, visit www.FallsChurchArts.org.  The Business News & Notes section is compiled by Sally Cole, Executive Director of Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce. She may be emailed at sally@ fallschurchchamber.org

March 6 - 12, 2008

As far as prolific recruiting classes go, the four freshmen that took the court for the Georgetown Hoyas in 2004-05 did not appear particularly remarkable at first inspection. The big gangly dude was 7-foot-2, but still managed to miss layups a foot from the hoop. The short kid was a walk-on, an Ivy League-caliber guard who some assumed got lucky when the coach that recruited him to Princeton took the job at Georgetown. Another freshman had hair that made him look like the Predator. None of them even rated in the Rivals.com rankings of the top 150 incoming freshmen. After years of Georgetown mediocrity, the sparsely populated Hoya home crowd of 6,320 at the 2004 season opener welcomed this dubious-looking group with skepticism, then watched as Temple drubbed the Hoyas to the tune of a 75-57 final. Four years later, a lot has changed. As Georgetown’s seniors step onto the court at Verizon Center for the final time Saturday, they will begin the final chapter of the greatest sea-change in Hoya hoops since the elder John Thompson first took the reigns in 1972. For a program that nearly missed the Big East Tournament prior to the arrival of this year’s seniors, a second-straight Big East regular season title would make for one heck of a send off. But win or lose, this senior class has already left the Hoya faithful a plethora of parting gifts, among them a Big East Tournament title and trips to the Sweet 16 and Final Four. Before this year’s senior class arrived at Georgetown, along with Head Coach John Thompson III, it appeared all of those achievements would elude the program indefinitely. That appearance changed drastically on Jan. 21, 2006, when the Hoyas toppled the No. 1 team in the nation, besting the Duke Blue Devils, 87-84, in front of an electric home crowd at Verizon Center. The previously apathetic fans have flocked to home games ever since. During the course of the Duke game, Wallace, the aforementioned “Ivy League-caliber guard,” shed all inaccurate preconceptions and blossomed into a Big East All-Star. Midway through the first half, with Duke leading 22-20, Wallace scored the Hoyas’ next seven points. The Hoyas took a 27-23 lead and never lost it. It was the first time that Wallace amazed me. It wouldn’t be the last. Last March, the “Rainmaker” from Harvest, Ala., drained the game-tying threepointer against North Carolina to send the game to overtime

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and, ultimately, Georgetown to the Final Four. Yeah, a lot changed alright. By now everyone is familiar with how the gangly “Big Stiff” morphed into Roy Hibbert, the dominant post player who outplayed wunderkind Greg Oden in last year’s Final Four. Not even Optimus Prime could pull off a transformation like that. Early in his career, Hibbert couldn’t even run properly. Now his deft shooting touch inside the paint, and from the top of the arc, has made him a star. Heck, Hibbert is so beloved that when students scream his name they then repeat it three times, in triplicate, to the tune of “Eye of the Tiger.” How many other All-Americans have their own theme song? Another member of that freshman class, who to this point has gone unmentioned, may well have been the most important. Tyler Crawford, who bears the nickname “Bam Bam” for his aggressive defense, has long been touted by Thompson III as one of the most vital pieces in the equation of recent success. It’s been said that Crawford’s intensity in practice has made the rough and tumble Big East seem mild by comparison. Those practices may well have given the Hoyas the poise they needed to compile a 27-6 conference record over the past two years. And then came the final piece — Patrick Ewing Jr. Ewing transferred from Indiana in 2005, taking the bold step of following in his father’s footsteps. However, the younger Ewing blazed his own trail at Georgetown, emerging as arguably the top sixth man in the nation. The energy Ewing brings to the game is nuclear, so much so that the U.S. would do well to keep him out of the desirous hands of Iran and North Korea. Oh, and that kid with the Predator-like locks, Jeff Green, he cut the coif but lost none of the killer instinct. The game-winning daggers he used to slay Villanova, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt are evidence enough of that. Green likely won’t be on the court this Saturday, departing early as an NBA Lottery Pick, but even with his absence, the contributions of this senior class will be readily apparent. And in case anyone forgets, the Final Four banner hanging from Verizon’s rafters and the hordes of student spectators ought to serve as ample reminders. And on Saturday, a grateful, gray-clad crowd will give them a very well deserved “Thank You.”  Mike Hume may be emailed at mhume@fcnp.com.

The George Mason High School girls varsity basketball team slipped on their glass slippers this past week, upsetting three higher seeds to claim the Region B Tournament and earn a spot in the Group A Virginia State Tournament, continuing what Mason Head Coach Bill Broderick refers to as their “Cinderella season.” After their Bull Run season ended with a loss at Strasburg in the district championship, the Mustangs’ third loss to the Rams this year, Mason avenged their previous slips with a triumphant performance in the opening round of the Region B Tournament. Mason, the tournament’s seventh seed, rarely trailed throughout the contest last Wednesday, finally wearing down the Rams. With a 37-31 victory, the Mustangs were just the second team to have beaten Strasburg the entire season. Senior Meredith Hamme and junior Kim Kenny kicked off what would be an unbelievable tournament for the pair, scoring 13 and 16 points respectively. Kenny also added 11 rebounds and nailed all eight of her free throws. Hamme, likewise, had a hot shooting night, hitting three three-pointers. Mason was 12 for 13 from the charity stripe, making up for a poor shooting night from the field. They also totaled 34 rebounds as a team. Sophomore Nicole Mitchell, named Honorable Mention All-Region following the tournament, was held scoreless, but still had 11 boards. Following their David-esque upset of Goliath Strasburg, Mason journeyed to Eastern Mennonite University to take on the No. 3 seed, Randolph-Henry High, with the winner earning a berth in the state tournament. Hamme led all Mason scorers with nine points, all off free-throws, as well as five steals to pace the Mustangs to a 43-31 win. Kenny and senior Bailey Walton each added eight points, with Kenny snatching 11 rebounds. Senior Annie Zweighaft rounded out the top scorers with seven points. Mason took a 10 point lead into the break against Randolph-Henry, but a four-

point third quarter allowed their opponents to climb back into the contest. However, the Mustangs stretched in the final period to seal a spot on the state tournament. Last Saturday in the Region B final, Mason eked out a win against upstart Wilson Memorial, 50-48, in one of the more exciting and well-played games in Mason’s entire season. The Hornets, who were the fifth seed in their own district tournament but rolled into the contest against Mason on a seven-game winning streak, were grossly undersized against the Mustangs, as their tallest player gave up four inches to Kenny. Hamme and Kenny led all Mason scorers once again with 12 and 11 points, respectively, while Kenny had 13 rebounds. The Mustangs frequently ran isolation plays in the post with Kenny, as they were able to lob the ball in to the Second Team All-District player with relative ease for high percentage shots. Zweighaft had six points and four assists, but it was her deadly free-throw shooting down the stretch which sealed the victory. With under 10 seconds left, the senior hit two shots to put the game out of reach. Mitchell added eight points and six rebounds, sophomore Chantal Thomas tacked on five points, while Walton and senior Olivia Scott rounded out the scoring with four points apiece. A desperation heave at the buzzer by Julie Young (17 points) of Wilson cut the final

score down to two. According to Mason players, it was ultimately the unity of the squad which has spurred Mason’s run to the Single A Division 2 State Tournament. On the front of their new warmup jerseys is simply the word “family,” perfectly capturing the essence of this close-knit team. “The shirts are just a symbol of who we are and what the season has been,” said Hamme. “We are a family, just caring for each other. It’s not about winning and losing so much as it is about staying together as a family.” If the Mustangs (19-9) are to continue this fairytale postseason, they will certainly need every bit of family unity this Saturday when they take on an extremely athletic team from Middlesex (22-5), the Region A runners-up. With a win against Middlesex, Mason would move on to the state semifinals the following weekend at the Seigel Center at Virginia Commonwealth University. Directions to this Saturday’s contest at Robinson High School against Middlesex can be found on the Mason High athletics website, www.masonathletics. org. Tip-off this Saturday is at 4 p.m., as the game is sandwiched between two other AAA state quarterfinal matchups. “While family within the team has been an overriding theme this season, we certainly want the Mason and Falls Church family to come out and support us this Saturday,” said Hamme.

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The season of the George Mason High School boys basketball team came to an end one game short of a berth in the Virginia Group A state tournament, falling to No. 1 seeded Buckingham in the Region B semifinals, 60-45. The Mustangs stayed within striking distance for much of the first half, but a late second-quarter lapse allowed

March 6 - 12, 2008

Buckingham to pull away to a 33-24 lead at halftime. Buckingham mostly cruised from there, though Mason rallied to sneak within six points with three and a half minutes remaining. The Mustangs struggled to shut down Buckingham’s center, Jesse White, a 6-foot-5, 270-lbs. Senior. White finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead his team to the Regional finals. From there, Buckingham would go on to capture the Region B

During the original formative stages of the Kettler Capitals Ice Rink, developers intended on designing a building in Ballston that would serve as a firstrate practice facility for D.C.’s NHL franchise, the Washington Capitals. Since its construction however, the rink has become much more to a much larger number of people than just professional hockey types. The Capitals, in an effort to give back to the community, opened the Kettler Rink to the public in November 2006 and now, nearly a year and a half later, the Ballston community as a whole has benefited from the Capitals’ generosity. The Kettler Capitals Iceplex is the first indoor ice rink inside the Capital Beltway in Virginia. It features two NHL-size rinks with seating to accommodate 1,200. Ironically, the Iceplex opened to the public before the Capitals even laid their skates on the ice for the first time, as the rink’s public grand opening occurred while the finishing touches were being placed on the Caps’ locker rooms. Today, many local schools and organizations find themselves calling the Iceplex home. Local high schools such as Yorktown, Washington-Lee, West Springfield and T.C. Williams all skate on Kettler as their home ice, along with local college teams from Georgetown, George Mason, and the womens’ teams of George Washington and American University. However, schools aren’t the only groups to benefit from the opening of the Iceplex. The Washington Little Caps, a USA Hockey Tier I youth hockey organization, now bases themselves out of the Iceplex, along with Team Maryland. Both are members of the Atlantic Youth Hockey League. The Little Caps have historically been considered nomadic, moving between up to four rinks during the course of a season. However, thanks to the amenities provided at Kettler, the Little Caps finally have a permanent home for their players. The Dallas Stars’ Jeff Halpern and San Jose Sharks’ Jeremy Roenick each earned valuable travel experience with the Little Caps during their early years. A local adult hockey league also skates at Kettler, as well as the “Mites on Ice” program, where three-orfour-year-old children get a chance to skate on the ice

title. Junior Joel Chandler and sophomore Jordan Cheney led Mason in the scoring column with 18 and 13 points respectively. Junior Anthony Andrianarison finished with 10. The loss capped a trying season for the Mustangs (1314) that repeatedly saw the team battle through obstacles and march within one win of a state tournament appearance. Mason was slowed by

injuries and illness throughout the year, and was later forced to overcome the loss of several players to school academic intelligibility rules. Still, the Mustangs managed some magic in one of the best sub.500 seasons you’ll see. They upended reigning state champion Clarke County at home on Jan. 16, and finished second in the Bull Run District. A gripping overtime win against Manassas Park in the district semifinals returned Mason to

between periods of certain games. Besides the amenities provided to these local organizations, anyone and everyone interested in a day on the ice can find reprieve at the Kettler Iceplex. Kettler features a skate rental service, figure skating and hockey lessons, as well as a “learn to skate” program for beginners not ready to take to the ice with the general public. Those who remember their formative years’ birthday parties at ice rinks can also relive the experience, as Kettler offers special birthday party deals as well. Partiers have their own private room for an hour, then get a free skate rental and admission to the public skate session. Furthermore, depending on availability, “Slapshot,” the Washington Capitals’ mascot, could make a surprise appearance at a birthday party. The complex has also served the Capitals well, housing state-of-the-art training facilities — a 20,000 sq. ft. training center with weight and fitness rooms — along with front office space for the Capitals. The building also contains athletic-training and medical facilities, locker-room and lounge areas and a video room. “Piney Orchard was state-of-the-art when it opened, but this is a whole new level,” said Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig. “It’s a beautiful facility, and with two rinks, it seems like there’s always something going on here. It’s a great location, too,

the Region B Tournament after being denied last season. The game marks the final chapter in the careers of seniors Tim Brooks, Mike Straub, Alex Prewitt and Jake Johnson. “They have laid the foundation for us to be even better next year, which is one of the jobs of the senior class,” Mason Head Coach Chris Capannola said. “They will all be missed.” The Mustangs do return several starters, including leading scorer Chandler.

which is nice because it brings us closer to the city.” The Capitals mainly claim the late morning and early afternoon hours as theirs for practice, typically skating from 10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. All practice sessions held at the Iceplex are open to the public and free of charge. The Iceplex is about to play host to a three-day Spring Break mini-camp for hockey, but also features weekly hockey summer camps. From July 14 – 18, the rink will play host to the Pro Ambitions hockey camp for goalies, created by former NHL player Jeff Serowik. Beth Lenz, general manager of the Kettler Capitals Iceplex, spoke highly of the Capitals and their decision to open the rink to the public when speaking about the different organizations benefiting from the Iceplex. “It’s been so great for the Capitals to have done this,” Lenz said. “I mean, you can see how many different groups actually get to come here and use the ice. These kids wouldn’t have anywhere else to go if it wasn’t here.” With ice space limited in the Capital Beltway and many burgeoning hockey players forced to turn to other sports, the amenities provided at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex range far and wide for these different organizations. Most importantly, it gives the kids a chance to do what kids do best – go out and having fun.

March 6 - 12, 2008

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Hoopinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; It Up for Black History Month

IT WAS AN EVENING OF LAUGHTER and good will at the Falls Church Community Center last Friday night, the second annual fundraiser for F.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation in recognition of Black History Month. A basketball game pitted the hilarious and talented Harlem Magic Masters against a roster of local celebrities, including City Manager Wyatt Shields, School Superintendent Dr. Lois Berlin, City Council members Hal Lippman and Dan Maller, and several stars of the George Mason High School boys basketball team that reached the regional semifinals this year. (Photos: Nate Taylor, Rich Johnson and Gary Mester)

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March 6 - 12, 2008

In a time before now, a time before iTunes and MySpace, there was Napster. The music file exchange program allowed the tech savvy to swap songs across the nation, and in turn popularized a handful of independent bands for whom the file sharing network offered unprecedented exposure. Chief among those was Pete Francis and his bandmates in Dispatch, a group that never

signed a major label deal and still managed to sell out Madison Square Garden. In a way, the Dispatch served as the success story that made this rapidly expanding independent music era possible. They showed that if you have a passionate core fan base, as well as the means to cheaply distribute your music en masse, your success really just relies on your level of talent. “I think it’s pretty cool how independent artists can now enter the whole scene,” Francis says. “This is something

that Dispatch struggled with, but you had to go through certain steps to get to that higher level. You have to meet up with a lawyer, you make your demos, you shop that around and try to get major labels on board. Now I think there’s a more direct path to get to the listener. “Napster ... got the ball rolling in that the listener started saying, ‘Look, I want to get these songs from these artists.’” Now, as a solo artist, after Dispatch officially disbanded, Pete Francis is still enjoying the next generation of indie artist advantages — the aforementioned iTunes and MySpace — as he continues to self produce new music. On his MySpace page he has posted various “fun wastes of time,” including a feature where fans can submit their own versions of Francis’s songs. “I always thought the journal thing was pretty boring,” Francis says. “I didn’t want to write what most bands do. ‘I woke up. I had some breakfast. I walked down the street.’” Most fans will settle for a few of Francis’s new tunes, set to appear on new album “Iron Sea and the Cavalry,” which releases March 18. The album, Francis’s fourth solo effort released on his own Scrapper Records label, is more fluid than his previous work, according to Francis. “Sometimes before [this album] the music felt sort of blockish. Here’s the chorus, here’s the verse, that’s it,” he says. “On this album, it flows a lot better.” Such is certainly true of the organicfeeling finale, “Heavenly Boat,” as it winds its way to its chorus-filled conclusion. That tune is bracketed by the album’s upbeat opening number, “Shooting Star and the Ambulance,” the windows-down, winding-road rocker backed up by your own tappings on the steering wheel. Working as a solo artist has brought both boons and burdens to his songwriting, Francis says, noting that while he has more freedom, he also has more responsibility. “With a band it’s more of a fight to do things the way you’d like. [Your bandmates] might say, ‘Why don’t you change this lyric?’ and you do, but then two nights later you’re playing the song and you’re like ‘Why did I change that? I liked that lyric,’” Francis says. “But also, as a solo artist, there’s more weight for me to carry. You can’t relax because you’re only playing bass on a song.” For that reason, Francis is entertaining the notion of starting up a new band, but in the meantime Francis brings his solo act to 9:30 Club on March 11 for a CD Release Show. Tickets are $15. • For more on Pete Francis, visit www. petefrancis.com or www.myspace.com/petefrancis.

March 6 - 12, 2008

Fairfax County School Board Makes Big Changes The Fairfax County School Board voted to adopt the staff recommendation of the west county boundary study at its business meeting last week. The new boundaries were set to relieve crowding at Chantilly and Westfield High Schools, balance enrollments at South Lakes High School and eliminate the Madison High School attendance island. The changes will become effective in the 2008-09 school year and will be phased in, beginning with freshmen, during the next four school years. “School Board and staff members spent many hours in town hall meetings and public hearings; we read e-mails, letters, and petitions to learn what the public wanted,” said School Board Chair Dan Storck. “Board members made the decision based on more than 10,000 comments by citizens. Ultimately, we made a decision that we believe is in the best interest of students at all the schools involved.” The approved boundaries will move students from the Fox Mill Elementary attendance area and part of the Floris Elementary attendance area, who previously would have attended Westfield High and Oakton High, to South Lakes High. Students from part of the Navy Elementary attendance area will be moved from Chantilly High to Oakton High. The Madison High attendance island was eliminated, moving students from part of the Wolftrap ElementaryMadison High attendance area to South Lakes High. A realignment of attendance areas at Thoreau Middle and Wolftrap Elementary—to relieve overcrowding, reduce time and distance traveled and match up with recommended adjustments at the high school level—was also approved. Furthermore, the board directed Superintendent Jack D. Dale to enhance South Lakes High’s advanced academic offerings through its International Baccalaureate (IB) program and through individual IB and Advanced Placement (AP) courses, to make information available to families in the western part of Fairfax County who may want to request placement of their children in the IB Middle Years program at Hughes Middle, or the IB program at South Lakes High, and to facilitate opportunities for students taking IB courses to secure AP credit by taking AP

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examinations in similar course content areas. Also approved by the School Board was a separate proposal to adjust the Springfield Estates and Forestdale Elementary School boundaries to relieve overcrowding at Springfield Estates. “The School Board acknowledges that this was a difficult and emotional process for all involved,” said Storck. “We deeply understand the concerns of the community and want citizens to know that we didn’t undertake this process lightly.” FCPS staff members solicited input from citizens on the west county boundary study beginning in November 2007 under the direction of the board and, based on these comments, also took into consideration additional objectives such as improving commuting distances, reducing split-feeder schools, providing an adequate enrollment buffer for South Lakes High School and to keeping neighborhoods together.

School Board, beginning July 1. Ahmadi will participate in School Board meetings as a non-voting member, filling the position currently held by James Rosenquist, a senior at Langley High School. Ahmadi will be the 38th student representative to the School Board. Ahmadi currently serves as a delegate for Model United Nations and sophomore class president at TJHSST. He’s also assistant news editor for the school newspaper, tjTODAY. He pledges to make student opinions heard and “to take student involvement to another level—by opening up venues for interactive student discussion” via open forums, online discussions or other means. “This is one of those rare leadership opportunities where a teenager can actually make a difference on a large scale,” he said, saying he plans to have conversations with fellow students to identify “hot topics” and bring them to the attention of the Board. Union Mill Gets Patriotic

National Scholastic Press Association Finalists Annandale and Oakton High Schools are both making a splash nationally for their writing skills. The online edition of Annandale High School’s student newspaper, the A-Blast, has been named an online finalist in the 2008 National Scholastic Press Association’s Pacemaker contest. Erick Vu and Matt Camilli serve as editors of the online edition of the paper, with Alan Weintraut as the paper’s faculty adviser. Oakton High’s DVD version of their school’s yearbook, Paragon, was named a finalist in the field of Interactive Media. Oakton is the first high school in Virginia to create an interactive DVD yearbook. Matt Delman is the editor of Oakton’s DVD yearbook, with Chad Rummel serving as the club’s faculty adviser. Winners will be notified soon and honored as the spring National High School Journalism convention scheduled for April 17-20 in Anaheim, Ca.

Celebrating Freedom and Supporting the Men and Women Who Protect It, a two week long program celebrating what freedom means and providing support to the Fisher House at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, is under way at Union Mill Elementary. Fisher House is a home away from home for family members of the military who are hospitalized at Walter Reed for injury or illness. Union Mill students are creat-

congressional schools of virginia students (left to right) Maham Sohrab, Gilman Cuda and Aurelie Tu won the top three honors in the Annandale Rotary sponsored Four-Way Test essay contest, pictured here with Congressional’s Head of School Seth Ahlborn. (Photo: Courtesy Alyce Penn) ing essays, poems and artwork demonstrating what freedom means to them. Students, along with their families, are collecting donations as well for Fisher House. Speakers who will talk about freedom and the sacrifices made by members of the military to defend the U.S. will be featured on the school’s morning announcements, including family members on active duty or retired from military service, school staff members who emigrated from foreign countries and community members. The patriotic theme will be incorporated into art and music lessons during the period, and a freedom assembly is scheduled for Thursday, March 6, with guest speakers, patriotic music and a presentation to Fisher House representatives. Stuart’s ‘Taste of the Town’ Stuart High School will host its 16th annual “Taste of

the Town” this Sunday, March 9, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Sponsored by the PTSA, the event will feature tastings from over 30 local restaurants, musical entertainment by students and hundreds of items in a silent auction, including tickets to sporting events, dining gift certificates, vacation getaways and cooking classes. Tickets are available for purchase in advance or at the door. All proceeds support Stuart PTSA programs and student activities. 5th Grader Wins Her Second Spelling Bee Brookfield Elementary fifth grade student Alina Besalel has won her second consecutive school spelling bee and advances to the county bee with runner-up Eason Recto. Belasel finished in fourth place at the 2007 county bee. A total of 43 students in grades 3-6 participated in the Brookfield bee.

HS Sophomore to Serve on School Board Arvin Ahmadi, a sophomore at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) in Fairfax has been elected by the countywide Student Advisory Council (SAC) to serve a oneyear term as student representative to the Fairfax County

DOUGHNUTS WITH DAD, a program that brings students and their fathers together at school for math activities, and to sample some sinkers, came to Clearview Elementary on Thursday, Feb. 28. Every other month students accompany their dads to a before-school activity that highlights math through activities, stories, discussions and games. (Photo: Chris Lazun)

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Miss Pettigrew is not having a good day. For that matter, she hasn’t had a good day, week or month for as long as she can remember. Recently fired from a job as governess, another in a long line of failures, she is facing the stern proprietor of an employment agency where she has a reputation as “the governess of last resort.” This is the sad plight of the frumpy, frizzy-haired eccentric at the center of “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day,” an entirely charming film based on a 1938 novel by Winifred Watson, an author known for writing about women who flout convention. As the story unfolds,

Miss Pettigrew..Frances McDormand

Delysia Lafosse........ Amy Adams Michael.......................... Lee Pace Joe..........................Ciaran Hinds Edythe........... Shirley Henderson Nick..........................Mark Strong

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it will fill you with smiles, thanks to the smart, witty writing and great performances all around -- especially Frances McDormand, who’s in fine form in the title role. While exiting the employment agency, Miss Pettigrew swipes a calling card for Delysia Lafosse (a wonderfully

dizzy Amy Adams), a nightclub singer in search of a social secretary. With no other immediate options, Pettigrew makes a quick decision to seize the day and step into a new career -- one she finds herself totally unprepared for but uncannily good at. Crisis is an ongoing theme in the soap opera that is Delysia’s life. Intent on becoming a West End star, she is wooing the young son of a theater producer while living in a posh penthouse with Nick (Mark Strong), the slick owner of the Scarlet Peacock, the nightclub where she sings. When Miss Pettigrew happens to walk into the penthouse, she finds herself flung into the chaotic aftermath of Delysia’s seduction. With Nick’s arrival imminent and the house in turmoil, she swiftly sets things right, to Delysia’s delight. The odd-couple friendship grows from there into a laughfilled romp unfolding over one day as scatterbrained Delysia makes the high-society rounds with Miss Pettigrew in tow. At a lingerie fashion show, Miss Pettigrew bumps into Joe (Ciaran Hinds), a designer of luscious lingerie, who is instantly interested in this woman so out of her element. But Joe is engaged to the venomous fashionista Edythe (Shirley Henderson), who, to complicate matters, takes Miss Pettigrew into her confidence. Later, after a much-needed makeover, Miss Pettigrew follows Delysia to the Scarlet Peacock, where piano player Michael (Lee Pace of “Pushing Daisies”), in love with Delysia, makes one last attempt to win her over. Suffice it to say chaos ensures and everything works out just fine at the end of Miss Pettigrew’s new day. The film, a delightful confection, marks a surpising change for Indian-born director Bharat Nalluri, whose previous projects include “The Crow III” and many TV shows, including “Tsunami: The Aftermath” and “Life on Mars.” He proves to have a fine grasp of comedy, as well as insights into

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March 6 - 12, 2008

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Donny Osmond. Rated: One-half star. (Darel Jevens)

G T

HE BAND’S VISIT (Comedy, PG-13, 86 minutes). The Alexandria (Egypt) Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives on the wrong bus in the wrong small Israeli town, and is stranded overnight. The bandleader (Sasson Gabai) stiffly approaches Dina, the owner of the cafe (Ronit Elkabetz) and what begins is a long, tender night of shared loneliness. An exquisite film that also functions quietly as a comedy. Rating: Four stars.

HE BANK JOB (Crime drama, R, 111 minutes). A serviceable B-grade British heist movie, “The Bank Job” is no better than its generic title. It front-loads the naughty sex and back-loads the plot twists (the titular crime takes place

in the middle), but apart from the prominence of Princess Margaret in the goings-on, it’s a pretty routine job, as the use of the hackneyed phrase “plot twists” earlier in this sentence should indicate. For a movie about crime and sleaze and sex, it ought to be a lot more fun. Inspired by the 1971 “Walkie-Talkie” bank job in London. Rated: Two and a half stars. (Jim Emerson)

OLLEGE ROAD TRIP (Comedy, G, 83 minutes). The sort of movie that gets ROLAND (MACAULAY CULKIN) (LEFT), MARY (JENA MALONE), described “fun AND CASSANDRA (Eas VA A MURRI)for IN Uthe NITEDwhole ARTISTS' famCOMEDY "Sily,” AVED!" © 2004 - UNITED ARTISTS - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED but it really isn’t. Raven-Symone plays a high school whiz kid visiting prospective colleges with her overprotective police chief father (Martin Lawrence). This movie’s jokes and trust-your-offspring sentiments have been heard 1,000 times. With

Meet Author MARY AMATO: Sunday, March 9 at 1:30 p.m. Come and hear award-winning author Mary Amato 2499 N. Harrison St, read her new picture book, The Chicken of the Family, Suite 10 Lee-Harrison which is perfect for ages 4-8. Then, learn how to sing Shopping Center the joyous “chicken song” from the new family musical Lower Level Entrance based on the book, which is produced by Charter (Next to H&R Block) Theatre and premiere’s at Arlington’s Theatre-on-the-Run in April. 703-241-8281

adapting older material for a modern audience. Adams is once again goofy and alluring in a role she was born to play. It’s not unlike her role in “Enchanted,” only transported to a different place and time. A fine comedian, she puts just the right touch on Delysia’s madcap ways. The always surprising McDormand has made a career out of choosing quirky roles in independent films that fit her talents perfectly. It seems there’s not a role the versatile actress can’t make interesting. At one point, Miss Pettigrew

chastises Delysia that she “is playing at love, but love is not a game.” McDormand delivers the line with cautious wisdom and then sets out to help Delysia straighten matters out. But she’s also not averse to a little romance for herself. And when Miss Pettigrew’s face subtly begins to light up with the prospect of love, we know all will soon be right in her little corner of the world.

Ms. Amato is also the author of several chapter books, ages 7-12, Please Write in This Book, The Naked Mole Rat,The Word Eater and The Riot Brothers Series including Snarf Attack, Underfoodle and the Secret of Life; Drooling and Dangerous; and Stinky and Successful. A book signing will follow. All ages are welcome, especially ages 4-10.

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IRLS ROCK! (Documentary, PG, 90 minutes). The act of picking up a guitar and making some noise becomes a lifechanging experience for a group of young girls in this irresistible documentary from filmmakers Arne Johnson and Shane King that proves the transformative power of rock ‘n’ roll. Rating: Three and a half stars. (Mary Houlihan)

AR/DANCE (Documentary, PG-13, 105 minutes). Codirectors Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine follow three kids from a war zone to a nationwide competition. This beautifully shot, Oscar-nominated documentary personalizes strife in northern Uganda with horrific recollections and joyous music and dance. Rated: Three stars. (Bill Stamets)

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O COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Drama, R, 123 m., 2007). Regards a completely evil man with wonderment, as if astonished that such a merciless creature could exist. He is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who travels Texas and kills people with a cattle stun gun. He is one strand in a plot involving a drug deal gone bad. Another is a sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) and a third is a hunter (Josh Brolin), a poor man who comes across $2 million in drug money. A masterpiece based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, written, directed and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen. As good as their “Fargo,” which is saying something. Rating: Four stars.

AN IN REAL LIFE (Romantic comedy, PG-13, 93 m., 2007). Steve Carell (“The 40Year-Old Virgin”) is a widower with three girls who goes home to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving and meets a woman (Juliette Binoche) in a bookstore; they fall into the early stages of love, but it turns out she’s the girlfriend of his brother (Dane Cook). Makes for an awkward weekend. With John Mahoney and Dianne Wiest as the parents. Sweet, lowkey, a good time. Rating: Three stars.

EE MOVIE (Animated comedy, PG, 100 m., 2007). Jerry Seinfeld does the voice for a rebel bee who refuses to settle down to a lifetime of drudgery before he explores outside the hive. That leads to a lawsuit against the human race for exploiting honey. We learn at the outset of the movie that bees theoretically cannot fly. Unfortunately, in the movie, that applies only to the screenplay. It is really, really, really hard to care much about a platonic romantic relationship between Renee Zellweger and a bee. Rating: Two stars.

 Mary Houlihan, staff writer for The Chicago Sun-Times, is filling in for Roger Ebert as he recovers from surgery.

H Kids don’t get enough art these days. For Ten Simple Ways to get more art in kids’ lives, visit AmericansForTheArts.org.

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ITMAN (Action/thriller, R, 110 m., 2007). Timothy Olyphant plays Agent 47, a trained assassin, head shaved, with a bar code tattooed on the back of his skull. Not low-profile, but he moves through the world with ease, is now in Russia to kill the premier. With Dougray Scott as the Interpol man on his trail and Olga Kurylenko as the girl who follows him loy-

Continued on Page 28

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Mini Reviews Continued from Page 27 ally. Overcomes its video game origins enough to make 47 and the girl intriguing characters; I would have liked more about them. Rating: Three stars.

March 6 - 12, 2008

Rating: Two stars. (Bill Zwecker)

NTO THE WILD (Drama, R, 150 m., 2007). Sean Penn’s film, based on the Jon Krakauer bestseller, stars Emile Hirsch in a courageous performance as Christopher McCandless, who embarked on an idealistic journey all alone into the Alaskan wilderness. The film gives

us the people who saw him along the way, mentored him, cautioned him. And then he has only the implacable company of nature. Builds with a fascinating dread. With Vince Vaughn, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Hal Holbrook, Catherine Keener, Jena Malone. Rating: Four stars.

UGUST RUSH (Drama, PG, 114 m., 2007). Drenched in sentimentality, but it’s supposed to be. Freddie Highmore plays a boy who runs away from an orphanage to find his parents. He has learned that they (Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers) were musicians, and believes that through his own music he can find them. The movie is sincere and good-hearted, and really loves music. Yes, it depicts an impossibly sentimental world, but younger viewers will really like it, I suspect, and it has the courage to go all the way with its affectionate updating of “Oliver Twist.” With Robin Williams, Terrence Howard. Rating: Three stars.

LEUTH (Drama, R, 86 m., 2007). Do not make the mistake of thinking that if you’ve seen the earlier play or film, you’ve got this one covered. Kenneth Branagh directs a new screenplay by Harold Pinter that uses only one line of the Anthony Shaffer original. Michael Caine plays a wealthy novelist, whose isolated country house is visited one night by Jude Law, playing the man who is having an affair with Caine’s wife. The two engage in a Pinteresque conversation, and their verbal duel, not the wife, may be the whole point. Banish all thoughts of wives, adultery, disguises, accents, ploys, surprises and denouements, and simply listen to the words and watch Caine and Law at work. Then try to decide when the characters (not the actors) are acting, and when they are not. Rating: Three stars.

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March 6 - 12, 2008

Page 29

Washington Project for The Arts Image Auction

Roger Brown, William Christenberry, and More Through March 22, May 11, and March 23 respectively. At American University’s Katzen Arts Center (4400 Massachusetts Ave., D.C.). Museum Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Underground parking Free on evenings and weekends. For further information, call 202885-1300, or see www.american.edu/academic.depts/cas/ katzen/museum. Context is a funny thing. It can color and flavor things in unexpected ways. The current offerings at Katzen Arts Center feature the art of southerners, or those that had their roots in the South. Roger Brown, who was mostly a Chicago artist, grew up in Alabama. Both he and Christenberry are hard to pigeonhole regarding style and medium, but Brown’s work is a little more uniform than Christenberry’s. Brown’s work almost has a sense of southern regionalism about it. It’s a little too polished to be classified as such, but the sensibility is there. Then you turn the corner and find a pop art-like explosion of color in one image, artifacts he collected over his lifetime and then images of high rise apartment buildings and sculptures thereof. But more than anything, the image of that most irritable Senator form North Carolina remains in the mind after viewing Brown’s work. The black and white image titled “Fear No Evil” depicts Jesse Helms with hands covering his eyes, ears, and mouth. Thus assuring that the poor Senator wouldn’t be offended by any outside stimulus. For those who somehow managed to dodge this bit of Washington grandstanding ... Helms essentially declared all out war on the arts when saw some homo-erotic photos by Robert Mapelthorpe. He then attempted to strip every arts organization from rural symphonies to Public Broadcasting of its National Endowment for the Arts funding. If ever there were a poster boy for uneducated Philistines it would be this chap. Regardless of sexual

Set to be auctioned off on Friday — the required $250 tickets are already sold out — the images from Washington Project for the Arts members are an excellent cross section of what the top tier of Washington artists are up to these days. With no shortage of nice work, I liked Rob Tarbell’s “Aerial Rider” image done with smoke on paper. A circus performer leaps though a ring of fire, as his horse does the same below. It’s a complex yet simple and entertaining image. David Henderson’s “Man o’ War 3” depicts a jelly fish in what seems like basalt, but is actually glass and carbon fibers in resin and pigments. The two masses are conjoined by the most tenuous of spindly connections and seems in immanent danger of snapping in two.

her Platinum and Palladium prints (aren’t many of these folks around these days) of the Washington area. Sikorska provides nature-based drawings. The Arts Club of Washington is housed in the historic Monroe building, residence for James Monroe and his wife from 1814 until September of 1817. Having been inaugurated as President in March of 1817, this house remained the President’s home until repairs were completed on the White House in September 1817. All due to those soccer hooligan Britishers tearing the place up when they came for their little visit. No doubt this is the toniest art venue in town. It’s essentially an urban country club for artists and arts supporters. They have regular hours, but host dinners and lunches that no doubt will hamper your efforts to get in to see the art after opening night ... if you can get in at all. It’s a wonder they let us riff raff in the door to begin with. For further information, call 202-331-7282, or see www.artsclubofwashington.org.

see the work after the opening reception will have to do so by appointment. For more information, please call Curves at 703-536-0140. ‘Erotica 2008’ Through April 8 at MOCA DC Gallery(1054 31st St. NW, D.C.). Opening reception this Friday, March 7 from 6 - 9 p.m. ... and possibly later. The show runs through April 8, but the lion’s share of the wildness occurs on opening night. This is the fourth year for this event and currently the only erotic art show in the metro area. As with all opencall shows you never know what you’ll get until you see it. However this one promises to offend basically everyone, as some artist is sure to think something is erotic that you don’t. Not that this is exactly news to anyone, just that here you have to deal with it. It’s an interesting evening to be sure, but certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. For more information, call 202-342-6230 or see www.mocadc.org. Artists’ Note: This gallery usually takes submissions for shows right up until the morning of opening day.

orientation, this guy was universally hated by artists of all stripes, and as such, images of this sort still pack a visceral punch. William Christenberry’s work is shown on the floor above Brown’s work. Now that the Helms piece got your attention, check out Christenberry’s Ku Klux Klan room. Here we find a profusion of KKK dolls and drawings of Klan members in hooded robes. Displayed in ‘Scott Hutchison, Carolyn a curving and narrowing space Rogers, Elzbieta Sikorska’ not unlike the hoods worn by KKK members, the end of the Through March 29 at Arts space is filled with the neon Club of Washington (5017 I St. light of a white cross. What NW, D.C.). Opening Reception seems curious and quirky at this Friday, March 7 from 6:30 first becomes more and more - 9 p.m., with Gallery Talk at ‘No Art Left Behind; Art menacing as the space pinches 7 p.m. Work of George Mason down on you. Arlington Resident, and art- High School Students’ There you find hooded por- ist in residence at Arlington traits of Bubbas too brave to Arts Center, Scott Hutchison Through the end of March  The Northern Virginia Art show their faces. Followed by shows his multi-imaged self at Curves of Falls Church (240 Beat is compiled by Kevin drawings collaged with gun portraiture with videos. The W. Broad St.). Opening recep- Mellema. See www.fcnp.com and ammunition advertise- work is often humorous, some- tion this Friday, March 7, from for photos and more. To e-mail ments. It all seems so much times alarming, but always 7 - 8:30 p.m. submissions, send them to mulnonsense until they come after entertaining. Rodgers shows As always, men wishing to sane@aol.com. you in the middle of the night ... and a holographic image in deep red portrays just that, as a Klansman literally seems to reach out of the image for the viewer. All in all, it’s difficult to escape the notion of menacing closedmindedness of southern conservatism. When you then view Christenberry’s drawings of gourds in a tree they seems like metaphors for lynchings. For those who bemoan the artist confined by his own work and style, it should be noted that Christneberry’s work includes photography, drawings, paintings and sculp- ‘Rebel Gas’ sculpture by William Christenberry through March 22 at American University’s Katzen Arts Center. tures.

Page 30

March 6 - 12, 2008

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

Community Events THURSDAY, MARCH 6 Story Hour. Mary Riley Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). Free. Mon. – Thurs. 10:30 a.m. 703-248-5077 (TTY 711). Mr. Skip. Kids’ music. Stacy’s Coﬀee Parlor (709 W. Broad St., Falls Church). $5. 10:30 a.m. 703-5386266. Rotary Club. Students from local high schools will perform 8 minute recitals during the Falls Church Rotary Club’s Music Competition. Bishop O’Connell High School- Room 250, entry door 8 (6600 Little Falls Rd., Arlington).

Miss Abigail’s Time Warp Advice on Dating and Matters of the Heart. “Miss Abigail” shares wisdom from her collection of about 1,000 classic advice books. Arlington Central Library Auditorium (1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington). 2 p.m.

SUNDAY, MARCH 9 Meet Author Mary Amato. Aladdin’s Lamp (2499 N. Harrison St. Suite 10, Arlington). 1:30 p.m. 703-241-8281.

SATURDAY, MARCH 8 Farmers’ Market in Falls Church. Falls Church City Hall (300 Park Ave., Falls Church). 9 a.m. – noon. March Meeting of the Patriot Republican Women’s Club. (306 Shadow Walk, Falls Church). 10 a.m. Red Cross Blood Drive. Thomas Jeﬀerson Community Center (3501 South 2nd St., Arlington). 8 a.m.- Noon. Call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE to schedule your appointment. Lions and Lambs. Storyteller and

guitarist Marlena Thompson. Aladdin’s Lamp (2499 N. Harrison St. Suite 10, Arlington). Free. 11 a.m. For more information, call 703-241-8281.

Food and Folklore. With Vertamae Grosvenor. Shirlington Branch Library (4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington). 4 p.m. Taste of the Town. Tastings from local restaurants and catering branches, silent auction, and entertainment. J.E.B. Stuart High School (3301 Peace Valley Ln., Falls Church). $15 in advance, $18 at door, $8 for students. 5 – 7:30 p.m.

MONDAY, MARCH 10 Stories and Rhymes. Mary Riley

Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). For 2-5 year olds. Free. 10:30 a.m. For more information, call 703-248-5030. Mr. Skip. Kids’ music. Stacy’s Coﬀee Parlor (709 W. Broad St., Falls Church). $5. 10:30 a.m. For more information, call 703-538-6266.

TUESDAY, MARCH 11 Stories and Rhymes. Mary Riley Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). For ages 18-36 months. Free. 10:30 a.m. For more information, call 703-248-5030. WNO Insight Lecture Series: “The Flying Dutchman.” A talk examining the plot and series. Millennium Stage- The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2700 F St. NW, D.C.). Free. 6 p.m. 202-467-4600. AAUW Meeting. Speaker Kate Farrar on “Fostering Young Women Leaders: National Conference for College Women Leaders.” Falls Church Community Center (223 Little Falls St., Falls Church). 7:30 p.m. Falls Church Lions Club. Sharon Schrack will present a program on the Northern Virginia Lions Youth

Moon Over Buffalo. A raucous comedy favorite by Ken Ludwig from The Providence Players. James Lee Community Center (2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church) 7:30 p.m. Friday/Saturday. $15 adults, $12 Children/Seniors. www. providenceplayers.org 703425-6782.

FRIDAY, MARCH 7

Happy Birthday, Wanda June! Kurt Vonnegut’s ridiculous story is revived by the American Century Theatre. Gunston Arts Center (2700 S. Lang St., Arlington). $23-$29. 8 p.m. For more information, call 703-998-4555.

SATURDAY, MARCH 8 Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s famous love story performed silently in the Synetic Theater. Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre (1611 N. Kent St., Arlington). $30-$35. 8 p.m. For more information,c all 703-824-8060.

Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance. Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with this Irish dance troupe. Millennium Stage- The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2700 F St. NW, D.C.). Free. 6 p.m. 202-467-4600.

VTDance and INSPIRIT. Award-winning collaborators combine contemporary dance, improv and more. Dance Place

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12 Twilight Tales. A walk-in story hour for children ages 3-6. Mary Riley Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). Free. 7 p.m. For more information, call 703-248-5030. Have A Musical Adventure with Groovy Mr. Nate. A sing along for children ages six months to nine years. Aladdin’s Lamp (2499 N. Harrison St. Suite 10, Arlington). 11 a.m. For more information, call 703-241-8281. NARFE Meeting. Resolved: Accessory Dwelling Units: a positive step for Arlington Seniors and Disabled. Culpepper Garden Senior Center (4435 N. Pershing Sr., Arlington). 1 p.m.

THURSDAY, MARCH 13 Story Hour. Mary Riley Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Ave., Falls Church). Free. Mon. – Thurs. 10:30 a.m. For more information, call 703-248-5077.

Theater Fine Arts THURSDAY, MARCH 6

Camp. La Cote D’Or Café (6876 Lee Hwy., Arlington). 6:45 p.m.

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Dine Out, Fight AIDS

(3225 8th St. NE, D.C.). $22;$8 ages 17 and under. 8 p.m 202269-1600.

Axis of Evil Comedy Tour. Four comics: Ahmed Ahmed, Aron Kader, Maz Jobrani and Dean Obeidallah. Warner Theatre (13th and E streets NW, D.C.). $37-$42. 7 p.m. For more information, call 202-3977328.

SUNDAY, MARCH 9

VTDance and INSPIRIT. Award-winning collaborators combine contemporary dance, improv and more. Dance Place (3225 8th St. NE, D.C.). $22;$8 ages 17 and under. 4 p.m 202269-1600.

Restaurant Benefit for Food and Friends Thursday, March 6 At participating locations

he number of D.C. area restaurants participating in this annual benefit for the highly-effective “Food and Friends” AIDS-battling nonprofit has mushroomed in recent years. This year, 139 are taking part, donating 25% or more of proceeds from prepared food orders all day long. Donating 100% are DC’s BlackSalt’s Tasting Room and Ristorante Tosca and Arlington’s Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant. The Carlyle in Shirlington is a sponsor. All Z-Pizza locations are involved, including Falls Church’s, and the only full restaurant in Falls Church pitching in, donating 35%, is Argia’s Italian at 124 N. Washington (near the State Theatre). Drop in for lunch or dinner for some great ciapino, pizza and pasta specials. Tell the manager, Steven, that you read about it in the News-Press’ Editor Recommends!

March 6 - 12, 2008

Page 31

live_music&nightlife THURSDAY, MARCH 6 L�� J��. Sign of the Whale (7279 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). For more information, call 703-5731616. C�� F��, T�� B��. Rock. Jaxx Nightclub (6355 Rolling Rd., West Springﬁeld). $13 in advance/$16 day of show. 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 703-569-5940. NEEDTOBREATHE, I N�� A��. Pop/Rock. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). $10 in advance/$12 at door. 7:30 p.m. For more information, call 703-255-1566. H�� L�� S�� B�� C��. R��/B��. The State Theatre (220 N. Washington St., Falls Church). $20. Doors open: 7 p.m. Showtime: 7:30 p.m. For more information, call 703-237-0300.

FRIDAY, MARCH 7 S��. Also Anamide, Envy Insane and Burn the Ballroom. The State Theatre (220 N. Washington St. Falls Church). $11. Doors open: 7 p.m. Showtime: 9 p.m. For more information, call 703237-0300. “T�� B�� R�� 90’�.” Presented by The School of Rock. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E

Vienna). $10. 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 703-255-1566. G�� H�� S�� W��. Rock/Folk. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). $12. 9:30 p.m. For more information, call 703-255-1566.

SATURDAY, MARCH 8 K�� N��. Sign of the Whale (7279 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 10 p.m.- 1:30 a.m. For more information, call 703-573-1616. A� E�� A�� M�K��: A B�� C�� E��S�� A�� T�� C�� E�� I��. Poet, songwriter and storyteller. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). $20. 7 p.m. For more information, call 703-255-1566.

SUNDAY, MARCH 9 O�� J�� S��. With Sam Prather. Twins Jazz (1244 U St.

M�� A S�� L��’� S�� B�� T�� N�� D�� C��. Acoustic. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). $25 minimum donation. 2 p.m. For more information, call 703-255-1566. P�� S�� M�� D�� P��. Bring collectibles to swap and sell, then dance to Prince tunes all night. Chief Ike’s Mambo Room (1725 Columbia Rd., NW, D.C.). 8 p.m. A��/F�� . Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). $12. 8 p.m. For more information, call 703-255-1566.

MONDAY, MARCH 10

R�� F��. Indie/country/bluegrass. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). $12 in advance/$15 at door. 9:30 p.m. For more information, call 703-255-1566. “T�� B�� R�� 90’�.” Presented by The School of Rock. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). $10. 2 p.m. For more information, call 703-255-1566.

NW, D.C.). 8 p.m. 202-234-0072.

O�� M��. Hosted by David Cotton. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). Free. 7 p.m. O��-M�� P��. Arrive early to get on the list. Bar Nun (1326 U St. NW, D.C.). $5. 9 p.m. For more information, call 202-667-6680. O�� M��. Hosted by David Cotton. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). Free. 7 p.m. For more information, call 703-255-1566.

TUESDAY, MARCH 11 G�� M�� K��. The Reef

(2446 18th St. NW, D.C.). Free. 9:30 p.m. H�� H�� D�� F��. Pop/Rock. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). $10. 7 p.m. For more information, call 703-255-1566.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12 O�� M�� N��. Sign up at the door, anyone is welcome. Stacy’s Coﬀee Parlor (709 W. Broad St., Falls Church). 6:30 – 9 p.m. 703538-6266. K�� . Sign of the Whale (7279 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). 10 p.m. – 1:30 a.m. 703573-1616. J�� L�� A�� T�� H�� L��. Rock. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). $10. 8 p.m. For more information, call 703255-1566.

THURSDAY, MARCH 13 L�� J��. Sign of the Whale (7279 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church). For more information, call 703-5731616. E�� H�� TONIC. Also Bill Deasy. Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave. E Vienna). $12 in advance/$15 at the door. 7:30 p.m. For more information,call 703-255-1566.

P�� A��...

nother gastronomic event for the foodies this week and while it will no doubt do your belly good, it’ll help out the kids as well. This Sunday, J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church will hold their 16th Annual Taste of the Town. The PTSA’s major fundraiser will feature eats from over 30 local restaurants, musical entertainment from students, dancing and a silent auction. Auction items include dining gift certificates, vacations, cooking classes and more. In addition to the silent one, a live auction will also take place. Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door and $8 for students. All proceeds go to support J.E.B. Stuart PTSA programs and student activities. What: J.E.B. Stuart High School 19th Annual Taste of the Town When: Sunday, March 9, 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.. Cost: $15 in advance, $18 at the door ($8 for students) Where: J.E.B. Stuart High School, 3301 Peace Valley Lane, Falls Church For more info, contact Diane Weeks at diane.weeks@ gmail.com for call Susan Solomon at 73-824-3922

Monday, March 24 — White House Easter Egg Roll. Held on the South Lawn, this tradition dates back to 1878. White House (1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, D.C.). 8 a.m.- 2 p.m. 202-456-7041. Sunday, April 13 — Family Fun Sunday: Japanese Style Garden Day. Musical entertainment and art work creations for the whole family. Hillwood Estate (4155 Linnean Ave. NW, D.C.). $12, seniors $10, students $7, ages 6-18 $5, 6 and younger free. 1- 5 p.m. 202-6865807.

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: 703-532-3396; Attn: FCNP Calendar Mail: 450 West Broad Street, #321, Falls Church, VA 22046

Page 32

Readers Sometimes Set Daunting Tasks Letters from readers aren’t restricted to quick comments or arguments. Frequently, they offer a challenge. While I sometimes have to pass the buck -- no one, after all, can answer all beverage questions with confidence even if one’s ego comes in a giant cocktail glass -- I usually find that the research needed to respond makes the task pleasurable. I learn as much as my readers. One recent inquiry sent me on a loop from memories of drinking 7&7’s(Seagram’s 7 whisky with 7-Up) as a beginning imbiber to reading story after story about ownership changes and brand modifications in the adult beverage industry to more recently learning about the soaring prices paid at auction for vintage liquors. Here it is.

Dowd on Drinks

Hello Mr. Dowd: I hope you can help me. My 92-year-old father passed away in 2005, leaving behind at least By William M. Dowd seven unopened bottles, some in HEARST NEWSPAPERS original boxes, of Seagram’s VO (‘55, ‘49, ‘56, ‘48), Vat 69 (undated), Dawson’s “Special” Blended Scotch Whiskey (undated), and a 1952 Chivas Regal 12 year old Scotch Whiskey, Blended, in original box (dated 1952 by my father). The liquor was always kept in boxes in a dark closet, never exposed to temperature extremes. My husband and I do not drink hard liquor, so we really have no use for this. Is there a market for dad’s collection? Can you possibly steer me in the direction of who ... may be interested in purchasing old liquor? Any assistance you can give me would be very much appreciated. -- Jane Nathan, Champaign, Ill. Dear Jane: That’s quite a collection. A pity you and your husband don’t enjoy such beverages. It reminds me of the quote usually attributed to Frank Sinatra: “I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.” But, back to your inquiry. Selling whiskey is dicey because most, if not all, state laws prohibit such transactions without proper licensing. You’ll undoubtedly need some sort of middleman who is authorized to do such work. I don’t know precisely how much any of your bottles may be, particularly the blended whiskies since they are virtually the same from year to year and, thus, have no particular “vintage.” Also, label design modifications could affect the value of any bottles you may have. Seagram’s Canadian whisky, for example, has undergone a number of changes over the years. Its V.O. was introduced in 1913, but the meaning of the initials was not documented, according to a company historian. Family tradition says it means “Very Own.” In 1940, Canadian Gov. Gen. Lord Athlone granted a warrant for “V.O.” and his coat of arms was added to the label. The same year the company’s racing stable colors, black and gold, were added to the label as a ribbon. That lasted until 1994 when the colors were changed to burgundy and gold, and in August 1996 the ribbon was dropped from the design. Getting a precise genealogy on Seagram’s products is difficult because the company has undergone so many ownership and licensing changes in recent years. Pernod Ricard purchased the Seagram’s drinks line in 2000. The brand name now exists in such Pernod products as Chivas Regal “Seagram’s Gin” and “Seagram’s Coolers,” in the Diageo product Seagram’s Seven Crown and in The Coca-Cola Co.’s Seagram’s mixers line. The Dawson’s you mention is on the lower end of that distiller’s price scale, but bottles dated in the 1970s and still available on the market are worth about $105. Given the average age of the bottles in your collection, the value probably is in that range. The Chivas might do well for you. A bottle like the one you describe went up at a suggested bidding range of 150-200 British pounds sterling in a 2004 rare whiskey auction in England and there was only a single bottle of it available. That range translates to $295 to $395 in today’s currency. Good luck in your hunt.  William M. Dowd covers the world of adult beverages on BillDowd.com.

March 6 - 12, 2008

Daniel Negreanu on Poker

Bet Sizing is Proportional to Skill In No Limit Hold’em, much like video games and karate lessons, you need to master one level before you can move on to the next. In karate, as your skill level increases, your instructor presents you with the next belt. But in poker, only you can decide when it’s time to graduate to the next level. That’s a tricky proposition for some players because it’s difficult to assess your own progress. In poker, you’ve got to start at the bottom level and work your way up. This advice applies to the limits that you play and the sizing of the bets that you make. All beginners should start out with a No Limit betting strategy based on making large-sized bets. Then, as skills increase, bet sizing should decrease. Here’s why. When you make small raises before the flop, other players will simply be more likely to call those bets. That means you’ll end up facing difficult decisions after the flop. More post-flop decisions mean more variables to consider with more money at stake. Advanced players excel in these situations; beginners suffer the consequences. Fortunately, there is a betting system that can help shift the advantage back to the novice player. By making excessively large pre-flop bets, novices can force better players to lay down their marginal hands. But the question still remains: What’s the correct amount to bet? Well, bet sizing should be proportional to your skill level. A rank beginner playing at skill Level 1 needs to make very large raises -- five times the big blind. With blinds at 50/100, a novice who decides to play should bet 500. This size bet will protect you against a looser and tougher opponent whose goal is to outplay you after the flop. If you do make it to the flop, keep betting large with a pot-sized bet. As you improve to skill Level 2, slightly reduce your pre-flop bet size. With blinds at 50/100, bet out 450 pre-flop, and 90% of the pot size after the flop. The trend continues as you improve to the third skill level. Now, lower your pre-flop bet to 400, and bet out 80% of the pot after the flop. When you reach Level 4, try betting 3 ½ times the big blind, and then follow it up with a post-flop bet equal to 75% of the pot. Congratulations if you’ve made it to Level 5! You’re now an experienced and accom-

plished player. Your bets and raises should adhere to the industry standards: three times the big blind pre-flop and 65% of the pot after the flop. Note: Too many beginners make the mistake of starting at this level’s betting scheme. If you’re a beginner, start with Level 1 betting! Okay, once you feel that you’ve mastered the game – you’d be wrong, by the way, poker is a game that can never be mastered – it’s time for an aggressive style of betting. At Level 6, bet 2 ½ times the big blind, and follow up with a bet of 50-60% of the pot after the flop. At this advanced level, you’ll need to rely on a set of multi-dimensional poker skills which includes the ability to read people. Quite frankly, this level’s betting scheme is inap-

propriate for most players. There will be far too many tough post-flop decisions and the risk of making costly errors in post-flop play increases significantly. Without a doubt, the toughest part about selecting the proper bet size is that you must be your own harshest critic. Swallow your pride and be completely objective about your own poker skill level. Only then can you implement an effective betting strategy.  Visit www.fullcontactpoker. com/news to submit your questions and comments to poker champion Daniel Negreanu. © 2008 Card Shark Media. All rights reserved.

Thai Restaurant and Bar Live Music

926 W. Broad St, Falls Church, VA, 22046 703-534-0095

Dinner: Tues-Sun: 5:00-10:00PM Fri & Sat 5:00-11:00PM Bar: Sun-Thurs 5:00-11:00PM Fri & Sat 5:00-1:30AM Live Music: Tues-Thu: 7:30-11:00PM Fri & Sat: 8:30-1:00AM, Sun: 7:00-10:30PM

March 6 - 12, 2008

Page 33

Level: 1 3

2 4

SOLUTION TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

3/9/08

ACROSS 1. Reno, Ashcroft and Gonzales, e.g.: Abbr. 4. “I don’t mean to ____ dead horse ...” 9. Scand. nation 13. Lyricist Gershwin 14. One-year record 15. “The Downeaster ____” (1990 Billy Joel hit) 16. A cousin of, say 18. Graceful woman 19. Columnist whose “middle name” is “Erwin” 21. “ ... long ____ both shall live?” 22. Madhouse 23. Monopolize 25. “You bet!” 26. Poet whose “middle name” in “Loner” 31. Where the big bucks are? 32. Small bucks 33. Essayist/novelist whose “middle name” is “Anson” 37. Pairs 39. Biology lab stain 40. Singer whose “middle name” is “Elmer” 44. Family docs 47. Misfortune 48. http://www.cruciverb. com, e.g. 49. Singer Young 50. Opera star whose “middle name” is “Dodo” 56. Longstocking of kids’ books 57. Bestselling female writer of 1922 58. Laid bets at a casino 59. Fix firmly 60. Jock: Abbr. 61. “Live Without ____” (Van Halen concert video) 62. Tuck away 63. Gov. Spitzer governs it: Abbr.

Down 1. Vent 2. Musical with the song “Summer Nights” 3. Ride and Field 4. Diminish 5. Cabinet dept. 6. A ____ (root beer brand)

THE QUIGMANS Buddy Hickerson

32 34

48 50

31 33 37

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

crossword / By David Levinson Wilk

7. “Mon Oncle” star Jacques 33. “I swear ...” 8. Mourning in the NBA 34. ____-pah 1. Ashcroft andaka Gonzales, Abbr. 9. Reno, Leonard ____, Roy e.g.:35. Decryption org. 4. "I don't mean to ____ dead horse ..." Rogers 36. Sn, in chemistry 10.Scand. Like nation a painting centered 37. Dawn drops 9. on Lyricist a wall Gershwin 38. Perfect 13. 11. Go boom 41. Clear 14. One-year record 12. “Lah-di-____!” 42. Hosp. scan 15. Downeaster hit) 15."The “There was an ____" old (1990 Billy 43.Joel Forefathers 16. A cousin of, say woman who lived in ____ ...” 44. Columbus, by birth 17.Graceful Lunched, say 45. Boar’s abode 18. woman 20. Bamboozle 46. Symbols of slowness 19. Columnist whose "middle name" is "Erwin" 24. Pump output 49. Puppy’s bite 21. " ... long ____ both shall live?" 26. +: Abbr. 51. Agitated, after “in” 22. 27.Madhouse Oral health org. 52. Not name 23. 28.Monopolize Inventor Franklin 53. Star with attitude 29."You Also-ran 54. Jubilant cries 25. bet!" 30. Equine color 55. It’s not true 26. Poet whose "middle name" in "Loner" 31. Crafty strategem 56. Org. for drivers? Across

31. Where the big bucks are?

Last Thursday’s Puzzle Solved 32. Small bucks 33. whose E Essayist/novelist B B S G R"middle A Nname" T is "Anson" F A M E

L E A K F A R I N O R E A D A H A S D O S I D A N Y F A B M E A C O F A R M J A C O B I N O W M O R N I N N S

R A V Y O R A L B

A C I S M T H O U

D A R O M A E A R H A R T

F A R O S C P I A

I G M U T F A R R I N E O N A I N G G S E U S F T E R F E N S F E T C A R P N O A

P I N G

O S N A D I O

C O R A L

H E A V Y

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H E D E E R X L E

nick knack

Page 34

March 6 - 12, 2008

Anthony’s Restaurant 309 W. Broad St., Falls Church • 703-5320100 •Type of Food: Greek, American & Italian Cuisine • Features: Breakfast (Sat & Sun Only) • Hours: Mon-Thurs -10 am - 11 pm, Fri - 10 am -12 am, Sat - 8 am - 12 am, Sun - 8 am - 10 pm

Argia’s Restaurant 124 N. Washington St., Falls Church • 703-5341033 • www.argias.com • Type of Food: Italian • Washingtonian’s 100 Very Best Restaurants, Zagat Rated, Full Bar, No Reservations • Hours: Lunch: Mon - Sat 11:30 am - 5 pm; Dinner: Mon - Thur 5 - 9:30 pm, Fri & Sat 5 - 10:30 pm, Sun 5 - 9 pm.

Celebrity delly 7263-A Arlington Blvd. (Loehmann’s Plaza), Falls Church • 703-573-9002 • Type of Food: Delicatessen • Features: Catering, Sandwiches, Submarines, Soups & Salads • Hours: Mon-Fri - 9 am - 9 pm, Sat - 8 am - 9 pm, Sun - 8 am - 4 pm

Chicken Corner 2816 Graham Rd., Falls Church (Next to Magruder's) • 703-573-0112 • Type of Food: Peruvian Pollo • Features: Rotisserie Chicken, subs, salads, fresh fish • Hours: Mon-Thu - 10:30 a.m. - 9 pm - 9 pm, Fri-Sat - 10 am - 930 pm.

Frozen Dairy Bar & Boardwalk Pizza 6641 Arlington Blvd. (Sleepy Hollow Shopping Center), Falls Church • 703-534-4200 • Type of Food: Ice Cream and Pizza Parlor • Features: Catering, Homemade Frozen Custard, Pizza Subs. • Hours: Sun-Thur - 11 am - 10 pm, Fri & Sat - 11 am - Midnight

Harvest Moon Restaurant and Lounge 7260 Arlington Blvd. (Graham Center across from Loehmann’s Plaza), Falls Church • 703573-6000 • www.harvestmoon.com • Type of Food: Chinese • Features: Lunch / dinner buffets, banquet facilities up to 700 people • Hours: 11:30 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily.

Hoang’s Grill and Sushi Bar 502 W. Broad St., Falls Church • 703-536-7777 • Type of Food: Pan-Asian • Features: Single and Mingle Thursday Nights. • Hours: MonThurs 11 am - 10 pm, Fri-Sat 11 am - 10:30 pm, Sun - 11:30 am - 9:30 pm

Ireland’s Four Provinces 105 W. Broad St., Falls Church • www.4psfallschurch.com • 703-534-8999 • Type of Food: Irish • Features: Full Bar, Live Entertainment, Sunday Brunch • Hours: Daily - 11 am – 2 am

Koi Koi 450 W. Broad St., Ste. 117, Falls Church • 703-237-0101 • Type of Food: Japanese • Features: Sushi, Sashimi, Grill BBQ, Party Platters • Hours: Mon.–Fri. - 11 am – 10 p.m.; Sat.-Sun.: Noon - 10 p.m.

La Côte D’Or Café 6876 Lee Highway, Falls Church • www.lacotedorcafe.com • 703-538-3033 • Type of Food: French Cuisine • Features: Full Bar • Hours: Mon.–Fri - 11:30 am – 3 p.m, 5–10 pm; Sat.: 11:30 am – 3 pm; 5:30 –10 pm; Sun - 11 am – 3 pm, 5:30–9 pm

Ledo Pizza Restaurant & Pub 7510 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church • 703-8475336 • Type of Food: Pizza & Pasta, American/ Family • Features: Full Bar, Wine Menu, 5 TV’s-Sports • Hours: Mon-Thur - 11 am-10 pm; Fri-Sat - 11 am-11 pm; Sun - 12-10 pm

The Original Pancake House 370 West Broad Street, Falls Church • 703891-0148 • www.originalpancakehouse.com • Type of Food: American/Family • Features: Breakfast, Weekday Specials - Breakfast & Lunch • Hours: 7 am - 3 pm Daily

Red Hot & Blue 169 Hillwood Ave., (Hillwood Square), Falls Church • 703-538-6466 • Type of Food: Memphis Style Bar-b-que • Features: Full Service Catering and Delivery • Hours: Sun. - Thu. 11 am - 9 pm, Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Robeks 1063 W. Broad St., (West End Plaza), Falls Church • 703-538-4111 • www.robeks.com • Type of Food: Smoothies, Juices, Wraps & Salads • Features: Catering • Hours: Mon. - Fri. 6 am - 9 pm, Sat. & Sun. 8 am - 9 pm.

Sign of the Whale 7279 Arlington Blvd. (Loehmann’s Plaza), Falls Church • 703-573-1616 • Type of Food: American • Features: Seafood Night and Steak Night • Hours: 11:30 am - 2 am, 7 days a week

Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant 6304 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church • 703-2373888; 2153 Chain Bridge Rd., Vienna • 703319-3888 • www.crystalsunflower.com • Type of Food: 99% vegan • Features: Japanese, Chinese, Continental • Hours: Mon-Sat 11:30 am - 10 pm; Sun 12 pm - 10 pm.

Sweet Rice Thai Restaurant 1113 W. Broad St. (next to Don Beyer Volvo), Falls Church • 703-241-8582 • Type of Food: Thai Cuisine • Features: Free delivery ($15 min., limited area) • Hours: Mon. - Thu. 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Dinner 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.; Fri. 11:30 am - 11 p.m.; Sat. Noon - 11 p.m.; Sun. Noon - 10 p.m.

Yorktown Bistro 5171 Lee Hwy, Arlington • www.yorktownbistro.com • 703-532-6060 • Type of Food: American/Wine Bar • Features: Romantic Bar and Lounge • Hours: Mon-Thurs - 11 am - 11 pm; Fri-Sat - 11 am - 12 am; Sun 11 am - 10 pm.

Matsutake Sushi & Steak may just be Arlington’s golden-ticket addition to their block of night-on-the-town restaurant options. The entertainment at Matsutake starts when the grill is set aflame and doesn’t end until your tummy is full. Somewhere in between, cooks show off by spinning eggs and throwing them into the air, juggling their cooking utensils and grilling everything from fresh salmon to quality steak just the way you like it. Matsutake essentially has three different seating areas. A sushi bar gives customers a front-row spot to witness the sushi chefs in action. Dining room seating is available for the lunch buffet, a steal at $11.95, or for those who wish to order from the menu sans the live grilling preparation. Saving the best for last, grill tables seat about eight guests from a possible combination of parties around a rectangular bar, framing a three-foot wide flat-iron grill where the chef cooks to perfection fried rice, vegetables and shrimp appetizers to be shared by the table. These, along with each customer’s choice of meat — an array of both surf and turf favorites — are made right before your eyes. Gyozas ($5.25) were chosen for an appetizer. These pan-fried dumplings quaintly arrived in their own little round bamboo box. Inside were half-moon shaped pieces of heaven stuffed with beef and cabbage and sided with a dish of soy vinegar sauce. My dining buddy, who forewent the grill option, started with the Miso Soup ($1.50), a saltier stock. For his main course, he ordered the Sushi Combo ($19.95), which includes 10 pieces of nigiri sushi and one roll, six pieces, of your choice. The sushi arrived fresh on a chilled platter whose design alone was as interesting as the colorful presentation of various fish, complete with a side of wasabi and palette-cleansing ginger. All hibachi grill options will run you around $20-25 and include a starter soup and salad, your choice of meat, fried rice and vegetables. For an extra $2.50, an additional heap of fried rice is plopped on your plate. It's well worth it. A broth-based soup came full of scallions and sliced shitake mushrooms. Its warmth was promptly complemented with the arrival of the side salad, served in chilled bowls. The generous amount of fresh greens, carrots julienne and tomato chunks came covered in a ginger dressing whose combined flavors can’t be described by any adjective. The fun began when the chef arrived, opening his presentation with giant flames. Guests’ eyes aimed to the ceiling and back in unison as eggs were thrown into the air, cracked and scrambled. Minutes later, the whole table was enjoying fried rice done right. Not long after did the chef begin the preparation of everyone’s choice meat. I went with the Hibachi Chicken ($18.95). Once grilled, our chef smothered it in a teriyaki glaze and ran it threw the flames one last time, personally serving the bite size carnivorous delectables to my plate in front of me. Last, but certainly not least taste-wise, came the vegetables — squash, zucchini, onions, mushrooms and bean sprouts — grilled in a soybased marinade and divvied up between myself and the rest of the party. This winter, get out of the cold and into Matsutake where you, with your nearest and dearest, can crowd around a grill offering more mouth-watering entertainment than any summer barbeque could serve up. This Japanese-style steakhouse is sure to please dining families and colleagues alike. Great for a first date, take the pressure off and let Matsutake’s teppanyaki chefs give the two of you something to talk about.

March 6 - 12, 2008

Page 35

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as a mastering engineer, and he continues working with them on a regular basis. In addition to being a recording and mixing engineer, Shuman is a record producer, and also directs and produces music television for Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation. His work is not limited to just auditory mediums either. He created “BB Presents: The Best of the Blues,” which airs nationally each week through PBS affiliates. His largest undertaking currently is his management of Front Row Music Television, which creates music television for broadcasters, produces DVDs and music videos and distributes and downloads live music performances via the internet at www.frontrowmusic.tv. He also produces music video performances in 5.1 surround sound. Despite the multiple future projects, Shuman recognizes that the work he did on the Last of the Mississippi Delta Bluesmen album was particularly special. “This CD was really a labor of love to honor [the Bluesmen’s] life work and to honor their legacy. That’s really why we did it. It wasn’t about getting an award, it was about me saying thank you to Henry, my mentor and my best friend. When we won, it was really personal, because we won it for our friends. That’s what it was all about.”

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

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Falls Churcha The ambitious project received thumbs-up City Center unanimous Monday. critical, City Council and resolufrom the 7-0 votes All six ordinances passed by only tions were standing-room before a in Council chambers audience project at City Hall. million feet of The $317 of million square adding a to 8.7 acres comnew development downtown Falls Church’swill now undergo mercial area, review by various of 40 days and commissions City boardsof public hearings, the and a set back to The before coming approval. for final vote on the Council hopes to Council by Feb. 25. gone final version which has The project, of modifications of series through a original parameters the City 10 since the between SEE PAGE a partnership its Economic Church, and the & LATIFAH of Falls Authority was LANE, HOLMES MONEY’ Development a AD Realty Company, (right) addresson Atlantic GO FOR ‘M the new comedy out last fall. heights time Ovechkin took Alex Money,” hammered Louise” stars and & “Mad building (left) even The Caps’ While by “Thelma follows Mike Green on its residential directed Arlington. of the game of hockey, $124 Khouri, hotel plans CAPITALS’Middle School in came down 13-year, writer Callie Reserve employees buildings, signed a the intricacies recently and office commentary students to accommodate THE WASHINGTON at Williamsburg three Federal beat the Ovechkin the local ) player. For students structure, attempt to go were expanded to teach of the kids. crowd of 180-room banquet to an NHL PHOTO: NATE TAYLOR and their afternoon could possibly with some ever given a first-class -PRESS hall and Wednesday in a scrimmage system. What the largest page 18. (NEWS with meeting a six-level parking Capitals, on wrong? participating and with the Splinters” 26 facilities, thrown in. The numSEE PAGE million contractdeal, see “Picking rental units deck was on the historic 412, and ber of residential down to condominiwas scaled captured more age-restricted were added. the team twice ums, up to 134, six years cover both of last added to championship, the up and once Retail was Maple bringing the state almost unheard as runner of S. the team’s square feet, finishing has sides total to 53,000 place. success. a little history straight In in fifth the winning streak of retail 17,000. Here’s added to While up from very proud Jamie Scharff: from coach years, the Mason made the coach not-so-secret These modifications INDEX Harris Teeter Spotlight has won his kids, Scharff’s one — have the plans a major a six-story than a high the last six team Restaurant smarter and every is a simple Are you High academic Editorial.................26 ............................32 supermarket 5 six strategy and practice. a George the district championship Sodoku ...............35 school student? on Page Letters...............2, in the past smart kids gather twice a week not, if it’s ........5 Continued Probably School academic year. Four times team has won Comics................35 Crime Report Students of .......10-13 Crossword ..........35 — 21 Comment Mason High is the home So years, Mason’s on Page News & Classified Ads.....38 championshipother Continued Community regional athletes. the bowler. GMHS & Services academic record is the finished second Notes .............14-15& Business .............39 in the champion News Directory Business season their though the they years. Three times Focus 40-41 far this 20-0, Notes ..................16 Weekly of two Corner......42 an impressive just a fraction Sports ............18-20 Critter are ...26-28 Business Listing .43 20 wins Roger Ebert

The senior Figure Skating 2008 Eastern looked like ChampionshipsD.C.-area get a Washington, skaters from with together and Fairfax, Alexandria the medals. sweeping Annandale SEE PAGE

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March 6 - 12, 2008

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SUPER SALE! NEW- REBUILT COPIERS

50% Off List Price. Call 703-560-3900 Washington Photo Copy.

Help Wanted HALLMARK CARDS

Hallmark Cards in hiring part-time Merchandisers for the Arlington/Falls Chruch/Alexandria area. Approximately 15 hours/week. Job involves card department maintenance and stock replenishment in local retail stores. Call Kim Boyd, 1-800-3733636, Ext. 93508, EOE.

CHESTERBRROK RESIDENCES HIRING

Weekend & Part Time positions available! Dining Room Servers, Dish & Pot Washers, Cooks needed for upscale assisted living community in Falls Church/McLean. Fine Dining quality food cooked from scratch using health oriented, natural & organic ingredients. Apply in person at Chesterbrook Residences, 2030 Westmoreland St, Falls Church, VA 22043 or email resume to Chef Bonita @ bwoods@cri-va.org

CHILD CARE

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

SECURITY OFFICERS

Alexandria/Fairfax area must work night and weekends full-time experienced preferred. (703) 765-0407. DCJS Lic. 11-1027.

RETAIL GARDEN CENTER POSITION

Bell Nursery, a nationally recognized grower/vendor of quality bedding plants and nursery stock, is looking for energetci, enthusiatic people to merchandise our products at a Home Depot center near you. Supervisory and Merchandising positions are available. Please view job descriptions, locations and apply online at www.bellimpact.com

RN/LPN/’S

Sleepy Hollow Pediatrics, a division of Capital Area Pediatrics, has openings for Full and Part-Time LPN\’s and RN\’s. Must have a current VA license and enjoy working with children. Also available is a Full Time RN Clinical Coordinator position, pediatric and management experienced preferred. Fax resume to Rodney/Suzanne at 703-383-9574 or email to humanresources@capitalareapediatrics.com

SR. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

A part-time position is available in the City of Falls Church Registrar Office. Require exp in MS Word, Excel & Outlook; excellent customer service skills & exp working in a fast-paced, customer service-oriented environment; exp dealing with the public, using tact, diplomacy & good judgment. Typical Tasks: During elections, assists the Registrar with setting up voting stations in the precincts; supervise preparation of voting lists by precincts, publish notices in accordance with regulations, supervise the printing & maintenance of election ballots; Make arrangements for adequate facilities & equipment at poll stations; Mail new voter cards to all new registered voters & those with address changes. Must be registered to vote in the Commonwealth of VA; Scheduled work hours will equal an average of 20 hours per week. Salary: Up to 25K DOQ & prorated benefits. See www.fallschurchva.gov for additional info. Send resume to: City of Falls Church, HR Division, 300 Park Ave, Falls Church, VA 22046 or hr@fallschurchva.gov

For Rent

ORLANDO/DISNEY

3m from Disney 5br, 4fba, furn beautiful home w/ pool for Daily & Wkly Rental. Sleeps 12. Brochure. 703-241-1537 www.360house.com/76559

FALLS CHURCH CITY

50’s charm but updated - 3 brdm, 1/12 bath, fireplace, family room, sunken deck, parking & secure yard $2400. 703-628-0285.

OFFICE SPACE - FOR RENT

700 s.f., 4 large offices with storage and bathroom, $1300/mo., 703-573-3029

OFFICE/RETAIL SPACE FOR RENT

DRIVERS - DEDICATED FREIGHT

Out & Back! Weekly Pay, Great Hometime! Healthcare Avail. CDL- A OwnerOps Welcome! Equal Opportunity Small Family Owned Comapny. WJL:800-999-5551

FALLS CHURCH BUSINESS

Falls Church City office furniture dealership, is seeking a full-time project coordinator/sales assistant. Must be well organized, multi-tasker and have excellent communication skills. Send resume to furniture@wgsoffice.com

HALLMARK CARDS

HELP WANTED

Sheet Metal Mechanic or experienced helper. Dixie Sheet Metal. 703/533 -1111.

LANDSCAPING SPRAY TECHNICIAN

Applicators license required, excellent pay and benefits, 703-573-3029

PRODUCT DEMONSTRATORS

C.A. Courtesy Demos is looking for professional and friendly Product Demonstrators to join our team. You will promote brands by passing out samples and driving sales of our clients’ products. Must have own car, be able to stand for 6 hours and timely reporting of store activities. Hours FridaysSundays.10am-4pm. If interested please call 1866-619-6633 x 125.

PRODUCTION MANAGER

For Service Company, professional experience required, 703-573-3029

classads@fcnp.com

Renovated/ $2500/ Two Level w/ reception area. Perfect for law office, wellness center or service type business. Close to Metro, 66 and 495. 703618-1851

ORLANDO/DISNEY

3m from Disney 5br, 4fba, furn beautiful home w/ pool for Daily & Wkly Rental. Sleeps 12. Brochure. 703-241-1537 www.360house.com/76559

ROUTE 50 OFFICE WITH SIGNAGE

3 office suite at 6500 Arlington Blvd. $1,175mo incl util 703/243-4808

Services GIT RID OF IT

For Removal of Junk, Trash, Yard Debris, Appliances, Furniture & Estate clean-ups. Call 703-533-0094/571-251-5962

GREAT CLEANING SERVICE

Great references, excellent job call Maria 703.277.1098/703.626.0665

HANDYMAN SERVICE

Windows, doors, rotted wood, petdoors, lighting, fans, faucets, fences, bath, Flat screen TV installation and kitchen remodeling. Insured Free estimate - Call Doug (703)556-4276 www.novahandyman.com

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Interior Painting and Installation & Repairs on marble, tiles & stone. Call Jose 703-919-2715

HONEY-DO HANDYMAN

Cosmetic Home repairs and inspections. Painting, plumbing, electrical service, carpentry. Bsmts and bathrooms finished. Problem solver with references. Gutter cleaning & repair. Subpumps, drainage, snaking. Tree removal and expert landscape service by Certified Arborist. Decks, fencing, siding & roof repairs. Service calls for appliances. 703-560-0799

HOUSE CLEANING BY JAKELIN

Licensed, Honest, Experienced, References. Call 703-863-3821

Excellent

HOUSE CLEANING SERVICE

Available 7 days a week. Week, biweekly, monthly or one time. Good references in Falls Church City. 10 years experience. For further information call me at 703-848-8322. Senior discount, Ask: Susy.

Ch News-Press Classified Clas eck OAds ut O si

are only

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fied A u d Fo r r m .FCNP word .COM at

WWW

(Box Ads are $20 per column inch)

Deadline: 2 p.m. Tuesdays

(two days before publication)

HOUSE CLEANING SERVICE.

Low rates. Good references. Call Dolores 571/2321091.

MORALES LANDSCAPE & LAWN CARE

Spring Clean - Up, Mulching, seeding & many others. Call David (o) 703-502-3990 or (c) 571-2214330

ORGANIZING

Having the need to become better organized? This is the time to do it. Don’t go at it alone - this is what I do best. Let’s get started! Call 703.981.6993

PROPERTY IMPROVEMENT

and renovations, reasonable rates, painting, drywall, carpentry, deck, fence, siding, tile, electrical, plumbing. FREE ESTIMATES. Please call 703655-2838.

REMODELING & HOME IMPROVEMENT

We do: Bath Remodeling - Tile Repair - Ceramic Installation (Back Splash) - Drywall - Stone & Brick Patios - Power Washing. Free Estimate License & Insurance. 571-201-5046 or Luis_4uuu&hotmail.com

MARIAS HOUSE CLEANING

Good References & Experience, 703-395-5971 or 703-231-4135

PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES ABC LICENSE

Pie-tanza Falls Church LLC. trading as Pietanza 1216 W. Broad Street Fall Church Church VA 22046 - Fairfax County is applying to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for a beer & wine license on premises to sell or manufacture alchololic beverages. Karen Waltman Owner

Public Notice Request for Proposals Falls Church City Public Schools, Virginia Proposals will be accepted until 2:00 P.M., Official Time, Friday, April 18, 2008 at the office of the Falls Church City Public Schools, 803 West Broad Street, Suite 300, Falls Church, Virginia 22046, for providing the School Board with the following: Long-range School Facilities Study and Plans Complete RFP information is available on the FCCPS website at www.fccps.org or by calling (703) 248-5611 beginning Monday, March 10, 2008.

Public Notice Volunteers who live in the City of Falls Church are needed to serve on the boards and commissions listed below. Call the City Clerk, Kathleen Buschow (703-248-5014, or e-mail cityclerk@fallschurchva.gov) for an application form or more information. Requests for reappointments must also be made through the City Clerk. Applications are being accepted until the end of the month. Vacancies that have been advertised for more than one month may be filled during each subsequent month before month's end. Architectural Advisory Board City Employee Review Board Economic Development Authority Environmental Services Council Girls' Home Advisory Board Historic Architecture Review Board Historical Commission Human Services Advisory Council Planning Commission Private School & Day Care Facility Board Retirement Board Senior Citizens Commission Citizens' Advisory Committee on Transportation Tree Commission Regional Boards/Commissions: Fairfax Area Commission on Aging Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia Long Term Care Coordinating Council Workforce Investment Board

classads@fcnp.com

Phone: 703-532-3267 • Fax: 703-532-3396 E-Mail: classads@fcnp.com Mail: 450 W. Broad St. #321, Falls Church, VA 22046 Please include payment (check or money order) with your ad or call us to arrange payment by credit card. For public and legal notices, please email legalads@fcnp.com The Falls Church News-Press accepts no financial responsibility for typographical errors in advertisements. Advertising which has minor discrepancies such as misspelling or small type transposition, but which do not affect the ability of the reader to respond to the ad will be considered substantially correct and full payment is required. The Falls Church News-Press is not responsible if the original copy is not typewritten or legible and clear. The Falls Church News-Press is not responsible for copy changes made by telephone.

PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS ON PROPOSED BOND FINANCING BY THE CITY OF FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

PUBLIC NOTICE

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the City Council of the City of Falls Church, Virginia (the "City") will hold a public hearing in accordance with Section 15.2-2606 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended, on the issuance of a general obligation public improvement bond of the City in the estimated maximum amount of $2,000,000 to finance the cost, in whole or in part, of the acquisition of land for public right of way. The public hearing will be held on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 7:30 p.m., Official Time, or as soon thereafter as may be heard.

The Board of Zoning Appeals of the City of Falls Church, Virginia, will hold a public hearing on March 13, 2008 at 7:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia, for the Renewal of Special Use Permit (U1474-06) by Jefferson 402 LLC of McLean, Virginia for a bank drive-through facility as an accessory use at 402 West Broad Street. Copies of the above file may be reviewed in the office of the Zoning Administrator, City Hall, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22046.

(TR8-10) A Resolution Of The City Council Of The City Of Falls Church, Virginia Authorizing The Issuance And Sale Of Its General Obligation Public Improvement Bond In The Amount Of $2,000,000. Notice is hereby given that the City Council of the City of Falls Church, Virginia (the "City") will hold a public hearing in accordance with Section 15.2-2606 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended, on the issuance of general obligation public improvement financing of the City in the estimated maximum amount of $450,000 to finance the cost, in whole or in part, of the acquisition and equipping of police vehicles. The public hearing will be held on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 7:30 p.m., Official Time, or as soon thereafter as may be heard. (TR8-11) A Resolution Of The City Council Of The City Of Falls Church, Virginia Authorizing The Issuance And Sale Of Its General Obligation Public Improvement Bond In The Amount Of $450,000 All public hearings will be held in the Council Chambers, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia. Copies of legislation may be obtained from the City Clerk's office (703-248-5014) or at cityclerk@fallschurchva.gov. This location is fully accessible to persons with physical disabilities. Special services or assistance to persons with disabilities may be requested in advance. KATHLEEN CLARKEN BUSCHOW CITY CLERK

Note our NEW DEADLINES 2 p.m. Every Tuesday Buying? Selling? Renting?

GET NOTICED! in the

News-Press! Submit ads online at

classads@fcnp.com Efficient Effective

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March 6 - 12, 2008

Page 39

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Walsh & Assoc. PC Attorneys

COMPUTER REPAIR

•Injury cases & Death cases •Medical/Legal malpractice •Breach of contract •Commerical/Insurance • Car accidents Free Consultation 703-448-0073 Hablamos Español 703-798-3448

• Affordable Rates • Certified Technicians

HOME IMPROVEMENT WILLIAMS PLUMBING For Plumbing & Tile Work call: 703/241-5789 (home) 571/274-6831 (cell) Since 1981

VA License #2705 023803

703-496-7807

XII

III

VIII

QUALITY REPAIR

IIII VII

•JERRY DONNELLY • FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

• (703) 536-6731

Neurofeedback Center of Virginia LLC, "Neurofeedback solutions for optimum health and enhanced learning".

(703) 536-2690

803 West Broad Street • Suite 620 Falls Church, VA 22046

www.neurofeedbackcenterva.com

703-448-3508

Low Rates for Residential Mortgages Purchase or Refinance

256 N Washington St Free Consultation

H&R MORTGAGE Low! Low! Rates

We Scrub Credit for FREE

(703) 237-0222 HOT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY! Find out how you can take advantage of the current real estate market. Call Now!

703-868-5999 Shaun R. Murphy REALTOR®, Licensed in VA, MD & DC www.ShaunRMurphy.com Remax Allegiance

Benton & Potter, P.C. www.bentonpotter.com

Government contract law, all areas of business and corporate law. In Falls Church 703-992-9255, in D.C. 202-416-1660

703-532-3267 Ask about our specials!

Help us help thousands of Americans find out how the Identity Theft Shield can help them. “ Americans are more worried about becoming a victim of Identity Theft than getting laid off...

ROOFING

DOORS

SIDING & TRIM

GUTTERS

WINDOWS

REPAIRS

703-560-7663

ShinerRoofing.com/FallsChurch REMODELING & ADDITION, CERAMIC, TILE, FINISHED CARPENTRY, CROWN MOLDING, CHAIRS, DECK RAILS, STAIR, WINDOWS, DOORS, CONCRETE, SIDEWALKS, DRIVEWAYS, BRICK INSTALLED & REPAIRED

- USA Today 2003 For more information call George Huger • Independent Associate 703-635-3791

H&R MORTGAGE Do You Have AdjustableRate MORTGAGE?

Refinance to a safe 30 yr fixed Get $350 Free Appraisal (valid on Buy or Refi)

We scrub & Fix Your Credit FREE

(703) 937-7096 HOME IMPROVEMENT

Phone # Cell Number

(571) 330-3705

Licensed and Insured. Free Estimates. With Personal Service

M.D. Painting and Decorating Co. • Interior • Exterior • Dry Wall Repair • Wallpaper Removal and Paint• • Deck & Wood Pressure Wash and Sealant• • Reasonable Prices • Small and Big Jobs• • Good Quality • Painting and Finishing• • Licensed and Insured• Call for Free Estimate Cell: (703) 966-2954 M.D. Painting - The Name You Can Trust

Seven Brothers Landscaping Help with all Service problems Spring Cleanup, mulching, mowing, edging, trimming. Answer&one question Residential Commercial Tree Service & Snow Removal

703-241-4990

Psychic & Taro Card Reading Advise & Help with All Problems such as: Love, Business & Relationships See What the Future Holds for You

Call 301-317-7965 (Mention ad for discount)

MISS THERESA Make a Joyful Splash!

703-848-8322 703-901-2431

Specializing in custom firplaces, patios, walkways, walls, driveways. Small and large repairs. Free estimates Licensed and insured.

All work guaranteed. 703-496-7491

www.motternmasonry.com JOSEPH HOME IMPROVEMENT Drywall • Paint Exterior / Interior, Bath & Kitchen Remodeling, Basements, Handyman, Moving, Clean Garage, All kinds of hauling Licensed Work

Driveways • Steps Sidewalks • Patios Small Jobs Welcome

Miss Theresa

LAWN & GARDEN

• Fall Yard Cleanup • Leaf removal and Gutters • Mulching • Lawn Care • Trimming • Pruning • Planting • Power Washing • Decks • Siding • Painting • and many other home repair services

MOTTERN MASONRY DESIGN

Joseph

THE NEWS-PRESS BUSINESS & SERVICE DIRECTORY CALL 703-532-3267 TO ADVERTISE TODAY!

Roof Replacements Rubber Roofs • Flat Roofs Leak Specialists • Roof Coatings Chimney • Repair Facia&Soffit Decks Built&Repaired • Coatings Wood Repair • Drywall Repair Gutters • Siding • Ext.&Int. Painting 24 hr. Emergency Service

Landscaping & Handyman Services

“

Tax Smart Mortgage Solutions WWW.MORTGAGE1040.COM

James Roofing & Home Improvements

Licensed Free Estimates 703-593-3383

www.fastteks.com

FALLS CHURCH

OTHER SERVICES

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Free Estimates

with

Eileen Levy

703-508-3976 or 703-323-9251

Weaver Enterprises

FOOD & DINING

Create unique art masterpieces using acrylics, water-based oils, pencils and an innovative variety of tools and brushes.

Ledo Pizza Caterers

Held at 111 Park Avenue Falls Church on Tuesday Evenings from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Cost: $90 On-going monthly enrollment

(703) 847-5336

Enroll on-line at www.creativecauldron.org Or call 571-239-5288

Tysons Station • 7510 Leesburg Pike Falls Church, VA

Pizza • Pasta • Wings • Subs • Salads • Desserts

Cell 703-507-5005 Tel 703-507-8300

Home Improvement

Kitchens & Bathrooms Tile • Hardwood Floors Wood Trim • Painting • Drywall Free Estimates Call 703-503-0350 Licensed and Insured

GET

NOTICED! in the News-Press

www.FCNP.COM

703-532-3267 Ask about our specials!

Business & Service Directory 1 x 1” Ad 3 mo. = $220 • 6 mo. = $420 • 1 yr. = $770 1 x 1.5” Ad 3 mo. = $330 • 6 mo. = $630 • 1 yr. = $1155 1 x 2” Ad 3 mo. = $440 • 6 mo. = $840 • 1 yr. = $1540

1 x 2” ad 1 x 1.5” ad 1 x 1”

Page 40

March 6 - 12, 2008

Mayor Robin S. Gardner . . . . . . . . . . Vice Mayor M. R. Lindy Hockenberry . . . . City Council David C. Chavern . . . . . . . . . . Harold Lippman. . . . . . . . . . . Daniel Maller . . . . . . . . . . . . . David F. Snyder. . . . . . . . . . . . Daniel X. Sze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . City Manager Wyatt Shields. . . . . . . . . . . . . Home Page <www.fallschurchva.gov> * Indicates TTY 711 Accessibility

city calendar

MARCH 6 7 8 9 10

The Week

703-534-8644 703-241-0934 703-538-2398 703-237-9089 703-731-8433 703-241-0419 703-538-5986 703-248-5004*

Story Hour, 10:30 a.m. Book Discussion Group, 7:30 p.m. FIRSTfriday event Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-Noon Daylight-Saving Time Begins Yard Waste, Bundled Brush, & Special Collections Story Hour, 10:30 a.m. City Council, 7:30 p.m. Volunteer Fire Department Business, 8 p.m. Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court in Session Story Hour, 10:30 a.m. Housing Commission, 7:30 p.m. School Board, 7:30 p.m. General District Court in Session Story Hour, 7 p.m. Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation, 7:30 p.m. Story Hour, 10:30 a.m. Aurora House Citizens’ Advisory Committee, 7:30 p.m. Board of Zoning Appeals, 7:30 p.m. Federal Corporate Income Taxes Due Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-Noon Celtic Music Concert, 8 p.m.

Celtic Music Concert at Cherry Hill Farmhouse Enjoy a lively evening of Irish music at the annual Celtic Music Concert March 15 at Cherry Hill Farmhouse (312 Park Ave.). Musicians from the band Poirt o’ Call will perform on banjo, mandolin, fiddle, flute, concertina, and guitar in the intimate atmosphere of the Farmhouse parlor. The concert begins at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $12; advance purchase recommended at the Falls Church City Community Center, 223 Little Falls St. For more information, call 703-248-5171 (TTY 711).

Preschool Open House Parents interested in enrolling their children ages 3-5 in the City of Falls Church Preschool Program are invited to meet the teacher, ask questions, and check out the classroom. The Preschool Open House will be held Monday, March 17 from 10-11 a.m. in the Falls Church Community Center (223 Little Falls Street). Fall Preschool registration begins May 12 for City residents and May 19 for non-residents. To register or for further information, contact the Falls Church Community Center at 703-248-5077 (TTY 711).

provided as a public service by the city of falls church

Questions or Comments? City of Falls Church, Harry E.Wells Building, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church,VA 22046 703-248-5003 (TTY 711) The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act.This document will be made available in alternate format upon request. Call 703-248-5003 (TTY 711).

Leaf Mulch Is Running Out! Don’t miss out on high-quality leaf mulch offered by the Department of Environmental Services – free of charge! Orders are filled on a firstcome, first-served basis for addresses within a five-mile radius of the City. This is the 14th year of the popular leaf mulch program, which is a “winwin” for City residents and the environment, since it accomplishes three important goals: it saves tax dollars, it brings life back to your soil, and it helps control stormwater runoff. Leaf mulch request forms are available online and hard copies are available at the Mary Riley Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Ave.), Community Center (223 Little Falls St.), and City Hall (300 Park Ave.) in the lobby, the Commissioner of Revenue’s and Treasurer’s offices (First Floor, East Wing), and the Department of Environmental Services (Third Flood, West Wing). Follow these tips to make the most of your mulch: • Spread mulch under the tree’s canopy, as wide as the spread of the branches. The root system of the tree is at least as wide as the canopy – and can be up to five times as wide! Mulch can best protect roots when it covers the entire area. • Apply mulch in a layer that is 2” to 4” high. Avoid the “volcano” mulch technique, in which

Classes and Events Youth Classes

Classic Tales ‘n Tunes (Ages 1 ½-4 with adult) Saturday, April 5, 9:30 or 10:30 a.m.; Wednesday, April 9, 9:15 or 10:15 a.m. Community Center, 223 Little Falls St. Preview this program of stories, music, movement, and puppetry, enriched with Spanish and American Sign Language! FREE, but spaces are limited. To register, call 703-248-5077 (TTY 711). Visit www.classictnt.com for more information! The leaves collected by City crews last fall were processed into mulch that will be delivered to residents who request it. mulch is piled high against the trunk of the tree. A layer any higher than 4” may block the transfer of oxygen and water to the tree’s surface roots. • NEVER pile mulch against the trunk of the tree. Once the mulch is spread, pull it away from the trunk with your fingers, leaving a space of 4” or more between the trunk and the mulch. Mulch placed directly against the bark can cause the tree trunk to decay and die. Rotting bark creates a habitat for tree-damaging rodents, insects, and diseases. • Keep the mulched area free of weeds, and apply more mulch annually, if necessary. For more information about the leaf mulch program, contact the Environmental Programs Specialist at 703-248-5176 (TTY 711). For questions about mulch delivery, contact the Assistant Director of Operations at 703-248-5281 (TTY 711).

Kokolopori Art Contest Accepting Submissions Would you like your artwork printed on notecards that are sold to raise money for our Sister City, Kokolopori? Entries must depict what you think life in the rainforest would be like in or around Kokolopori, our Sister City in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa. All students between 5 and 18 years of age who live or attend school in the City of Falls Church are eligible to enter. For a complete list of rules, visit www.fallschurchva.gov, e-mail info@kokolopori-partnership.org, or call 703-534-4003.

Become a Certified Emergency Volunteer Responder The City of Falls Church will offer its first Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training course this April and May. Emergency responders will train members of neighborhoods, community organizations, or workplaces in basic response skills. CERT members are then integrated into the emergency response capability for the Falls Church City area.

evenings and a few Saturdays. Registration is on a first-come, firstserved basis with initial preference given to Falls Church City residents.

Class schedule and registration information is available online at www.fallschurchvfd.org. The course is free and open to persons ages 18 and up. The course takes approximately 30 hours to complete, and classes meet on a series of Wednesday

• light search and rescue team organization;

The training will address: • disaster preparedness; • fire safety; • disaster medical operations– hygiene, assessment, triage, and treatment;

• disaster psychology; and • terrorism.

FOR THE WEEK of

Tiny Tunes (Ages birth-17 months) Wednesday, April 9, 11:15 a.m. or noon Community Center, 223 Little Falls St. Beloved teacher Susan Hayes delights the tiniest learners with music, movement, puppetry, and sign language! Space is limited. Call 703-2485077 (TTY 711) to reserve your spot. Details at www.classictnt.com. The following requires paid registration. Call 703-248-5077 (TTY 711) for fees and details. Bellobration Friday, April 4, 5 p.m. or Saturday, April 5, 1 p.m. George Mason University Patriot Center (transportation provided from Falls Church Community Center)

Bring your family to see Bello,the daredevil clown, with tightropes, acrobats, elephants, horses, 12 ferocious tigers and more! Before the show, step onto the arena floor for an all-access pre-show. Get in step with the dancers, clown around with the clowns, and warm up with the stars of the show! Registration ends March 29.

Spring Break Camps

Middle School Spring Break Excursion Camp Monday, March 17-Friday, March 21, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Campers will go rock climbing, biking, horseback riding, Day Quest, and caving. This camp is for 57th graders. Transportation provided. Daily times for camps vary. Camp Olympia Horseback Riding Camp (Ages 8-15) Monday, March 24-Friday, March 28, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Beginning to advanced riders will ride and participate in daily activities, including balance and coordination exercises, horse grooming, tacking up, cleaning the barn and tack, and other horserelated activities. City of Falls Church Farmers Market Every Saturday from 9 a.m. - Noon

Student Artwork Available for Pickup All artwork submitted to the 2007 Student Art Contest can be picked up from the Office of Communications in City Hall, 300 Park Ave., East Wing, third floor, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Affordable Dwelling Units Available For Immediate Rental At Pearson Square Applications Being Accepted

The City of Falls Church Housing and Human Services (HHS) Division is accepting applications for its Affordable Dwelling Unit (ADU) Rental Program. Three luxury apartments (Simon Pearson Square) are available for immediate occupancy to incomeeligible households. These apartments are being offered well below market price. 1-One Bedroom Unit (839 sq. ft.) - $992 month plus utilities 2-Two Bedroom Unit (1,264 sq. ft.) - $1,134 month plus utilities All applicants must meet the income requirements listed below, have a credit score of 620 or higher, and assets of less than $30,000. Number of Persons In Household 1 2 3 4 5

Household Income Range Requirements $34,450 - $52,920 $39,350 - $60,480 $44,300 - $68,040 $49,200 - $75,600 $53,150 - $81,648

Applications are available online at www.fallschurchva.gov/services/hhs/ affordabledwellingunitprog.html and at the HHS office (300 Park Ave., 100 West) Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, call 703-248-5005 (TTY 711).

Book Collection Drive The Falls Church Area American Association of University Women (AAUW) is collecting books of all kinds for its annual book sale to be held on April 11 and 12 at the Falls Church Community Center. The book sale benefits scholarship programs for women. The AAUW needs all kinds of books: hardcovers, paperbacks, novels, non-fiction, children’s, cookbooks, etc. that are suitable for re-sale (no magazines, encyclopedias, text books, or damaged books, please). To arrange for your tax-deductible donation of books, call 703-941-5643.

Falls Church Recreation & Parks Division 223 Little Falls Street Falls Church, VA 22046 703-248-5077* Phone Numbers Open Gym/Weather Hotline 703-248-5125* Special Events Hotline 703-248-5178* Fax 703-536-5125 Senior Center 703-248-5020*/21* Community Center Hours Monday-Thursday 8 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. Friday 8 a.m. - Midnight Saturday 8:30 a.m. - Midnight Sunday Noon - 6 p.m. Open Gym Hours Open Gym hours are updated on a bi-weekly basis and are also posted on the Open Gym Hotline, 703-248-5125*. All hours are subject to change. * Indicates TTY 711 Accessibility

March 6 - 12, 2008

Page 41

ly Focus

Chairman: Craig Cheney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vice Chairman: Ronald Peppe II . . . . . . . . . . School Board Rosaura Aguerrebere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathryn Chandler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Susan Kearney. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kieran Sharpe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan Wodiska. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Superintendent: Dr. Lois Berlin . . . . . . . . . . .

government and the falls church city public schools

mArch 6-12, 2008

For more news about the Falls Church City Public Schools visit: www.fccps.org

Falls Church School Board Approves FY09 Budget Plan Reflects Innovative Programming and Reduction in Force At its regular meeting February 26th, the Falls Church City School Board approved its FY09 budget. The board’s plan is about $600,000 less than the proposed budget Superintendent Lois Berlin recommended in January, largely because of slowed growth in the local economy. The board’s budget requests a monetary city transfer of 3.7 percent above the current year’s budget. “This is the lowest figure it’s been in ages,” said school board chairman Craig Cheney. “On an inflationadjusted basis, it’s basically zero, which is the lowest we could go and continue operating with the same class sizes that we have now.” The $40.2 million school budget reflects initiatives to support priorities in the school board’s strategic plan including teacher retention, data-driven instruction, responsive guidance and counseling programs, and instructional programs to meet the needs of all students. The budget includes a 3 percent pay raise for all eligible employees to ensure the school division’s salaries remain competitive in the region, and it redirects existing resourc-

es to support implementing the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (PYP) in the school division’s two elementary schools. “This is for absoFCCPS Cost per Student lutely every eleFY07 $17,488 mentary student FY08 $18,474 in our school FY09 $18,833 system,” Cheney said. “It provides them with the kinds of things that the strategic plan talks about, including more of an international focus, and I think that’s quite an accomplishment in a year when we don’t have any additional resources.” This year’s budget process also involved some tough staffing choices for the board. The board cut the equivalent of about eight full time positions from the central office and all four schools, including positions that are currently vacant and will not be filled. However, the board went to great lengths to ensure the staffing cuts would not have an impact on class size or on the instructional program. The school board’s budget now goes to the Falls Church City Council for approval.

FCC-TV Spotlight: Army Newswatch Tune in to Falls Church Community Television (FCC-TV) to watch Army Newswatch. From the offices in the Pentagon to the U.S. soldiers in the field, Army Newswatch showcases life in this branch of the armed services. You can watch Army Newswatch on FCC-TV at the following times:

The school year will begin September 2nd, the day after Labor Day, and conclude on June 18, 2009. The schedule includes a full two-week winter break. Spring break, which historically is scheduled around the Easter weekend, will occur the first full week of April next year. A copy of the new calendar can be found at www.fccps.org.

FccPS 2008-09 calendar highlights Sept. 2 – 1st Day of School oct. 13 – columbus Day holiday nov. 3-4 – Professional Days nov. 27-28 – Thanksgiving holiday Dec. 22 – jan. 2 – Winter break jan. 19th – Martin Luther King jr. holiday jan. 20th – Inauguration Day jan. 29-30 – Professional Days Feb. 16th – Presidents Day Apr. 3rd – Professional Day Apr. 6th – 10th –Spring break Apr. 24th – Professional Day May 25th – Memorial Day holiday june 17th – graduation june 18th – Last Day of School

Tigers Jump Rope for Heart Jumping rope is a skill that has been a source of exercise and entertainment for generations. Last week, every student at Thomas Jefferson Elementary was taught its various forms, from using a single rope to the more advanced “double Dutch” technique, during physical education class. At the same time, they helped a worthy cause. The Jump Rope for Heart campaign is a national educational fund-raising program sponsored by the American Heart Association. Its aim is to teach an aspect of physical fitness while promoting the value of community service to students and their families.

When the final Jump Rope for Heart tally comes in, TJ students are expected to have raised several thousand dollars for the American Heart Association.

6:30 p.m. Family Literacy Night (MD) 7:00 p.m. Mason @ Falls Church (B Soccer) 7:00 p.m. Falls Church @ Mason (G Soccer) 7:30 p.m. Elementary PTA (TJ)

Mt. Daniel Report Cards Issued 7:45 a.m. Parent Mini Conferences (GM) 10:00 a.m. Mason @ State Tournament (Wrestling) 4:00 p.m. J.E.B. Stuart @ Mason (G Tennis) 7:30 p.m. Stuart @ Mason (B Lacrosse)

10:00 a.m. Mason @ State Tournament (Wrestling) 1:00 p.m. Washington-Lee @ Mason (Baseball)

5:00 p.m. Mason @ Wakefield (Softball)

4:30 p.m. Mason @ Park View (G Tennis) 6:30 p.m. School Board Work Session (City Hall)

Thomas Jefferson third graders enjoy jumping together using a long rope during TJ’s Jump Rope for Heart benefit.

7:30 p.m. School Board Regular Meeting (City Hall) 12

5:00 p.m. Mason @ Potomac Falls (Softball) 5:00 p.m. Mason @ Broad Run (Baseball)

Aladdin jr. at MEhMS

7:00 p.m. College 101 (GM)

7:00 p.m. Park View @ Mason (B Soccer) 7:30 p.m. 4th Grade Musical (GM)

7:00 p.m. Internet Safety Presentation (MEH) 7:30 p.m. Budget Work Session (City Hall) 7:30 p.m. 1st Grade Musical (MD)

17–21 Spring Break (Schools Closed/ Day Care Open)

Katie Clinton Relay for Life

School content published in The Weekly Focus is written and edited by the Falls Church City Public Schools. For more information, contact the Falls Church City Public Schools Communications Office. Phone: (703) 248-5699 Fax: (703) 248-5613.

7:30 p.m. GMHS Band Boosters (GM)

BIE Partner of the Week

For more information about sharing your expertise through the BIE Partnership, visit www.fccps.org or contact Marybeth Connelly at connellym@fccps.org.

DATES ARE SubjEcT To chAngE March

FCC-TV airs on Cox Channel 12, Verizon Channel 35 and RCN Channel 2. For a complete schedule of community programs on FCC-TV, visit www.fcctv.net.

Why Katie is a BIE partner: “Relay for Life is close to my heart. I’ve participated in other communities, and am thrilled to be part of one in my hometown. I’m glad that so many in the school community have embraced this event, and hope that many more will join us on May 31-June 1.” For more information about this event, visit www.fallschurchrelay.org

SCHOOL CALENDAR

7:30 p.m. Gifted & Talented Adv. Comm. (TJ)

• Every morning at 6:30 a.m. • Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. • Sundays at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

School involvement: As chair of Falls Church Relay for Life, Katie is motivating school employees, students and families to form teams and to participate in this amazing community event. She’s also the Assistant to the Program Coordinator of the Extended Day Care Program for FCCPS.

703-536-8638 703-536-7564 703-532-0321 703-536-3130 703-533-1248 703-248-5601*

* Indicates TTY 711 Accessibility

2008-09 School Calendar Approved The 2008-09 school year calendar is set! The Falls Church City School Board approved the new calendar during its meeting last week.

703-237-6931 703-534-4951

A packed house and standing ovations for all three nights of Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School’s production last week of Aladdin Jr. The musical is an adaptation of the popular Disney movie and musically scored for the vocal ranges of middle school students.

(MD) Mt. Daniel Elementary (TJ) Thomas Jefferson Elementary (MEH) Mary Ellen Henderson Middle (GM) George Mason High Check the FCCPS Web site for more calendar information. www.fccps.org

Internet Safety Seminar Scheduled One of the main causes of the rise in Internet crimes against children is that our children know more about the Internet than we do! For that reason The Falls Church City Public Schools School Health Advisory Board and The Family Life Education Advisory Committee invite parents, educators and concerned citizens to attend a presentation on Internet Safety. Barbara Gill of Childhelp USA will present a program designed to educate parents about the Internet in order to help them keep up with their kids. With the increasing use of the Internet by our children, Internet safety is becoming a growing concern for parents, educators, law enforcement, child protection agencies and advocates. The Internet can be a wonderful learning tool, but it can also be a dangerous place for children. Make plans now to attend this informative program March 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School Cafetorium. For more information, contact the school at 703-248-5540.

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March 6 - 12, 2008

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15 & 10 YEARS AGO Falls Church News-Press Vol II, No. 50 • March 4, 1993

Lasso Hints at New Business Tax Hike as Proposed Budget Unveiled Monday “City Manager David Lasso presents his recommendations for the coming fiscal year’s $25 million Falls Church budget to the City Council Monday night, kicking off the annual tussel over taxes and spending that will be the focus of public attention over the next two months. “Fireworks have already begun in response to a letter mailed by...”

Helen Thomas Continued from Page 10

a transforming event. In another foreign policy putdown, President Bush used a news conference last week to splash cold water on any suggestion that, after 50 years, the U.S. might soften its policy toward Cuba. “Sitting down at the table, having your picture with a tyrant such as Raul Castro -(Fidel Castro’s brother and successor) -- for example, lends the status of the office and the status of our country to him,” Bush said, explaining: “He (Raul Castro) gains a lot from it by saying, ‘Look at me, I’m now recognized by the president of the United States.”’ Bush failed to add that any White House hospitality would raise a howl from the Cuban exiles in America. The U.S. political and economic embargo against Cuba is vividly strange when you recall that we have talked to communist leaders from other countries for many years -- especially in Moscow -- and this talking has been all to the good. In fact, we are talking to many leaders around the world - especially in the Middle East who are not exactly models of democracy. But we talk because they are our friends and allies. Some past U.S. presidents understood the yearning for peace and acted accordingly. When the Cold War was well underway in the 1950s with the former Soviet Union, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said he would go anywhere, any place, any time in pursuit of peace. But then President Bush is no Eisenhower. Pax Americana may be what Bush hoped for with his bellicose foreign policy. But he would have been better advised if he had extended an olive branch. He came into office, looking for war with Iraq and shunning negotiations with North Korea and Cuba, among others.

IN THE

NEWS-P PREESS

Falls Church News-Press Vol VII, No. 51 • March 5, 1998

It is now the time for all good to go cows to aid of the p a s their ture . * * * Throw * * Pour it up. it up

CRITTER CORNER 10 Year s Ago

It is now the time for all good to go cows to aid of the p a s their ture . * * * * * Throw Pour it it up. up

It’s Official: 8 City Council, 5 School Board Candidates Certified for May Election “As the deadline passed Tuesday for cadidates to file for the May 5 election, Falls Church City Registrar Debbie Taylor reported that no last minute filings had taken place, and the eight City Council and five School Board candidates previously announced in the News-Press will constitute the choices on the ballot. “Therefor, voters can expect...”

Egged on by neo-conservative advisers and supporters, Bush mostly took a hard-line approach to most leftist leaders, leaving little room for reconciliation. His first Secretary of State, Colin Powell, was undercut by the neo-cons and slapped down when he tried to pave the way

for talks with Pyongyang. A hawkish Bush somehow assumed everyone would roll over when he issued his nonnegotiable threats. So let’s keep talking to our adversaries and keep the Philharmonic on the road. The world is ready to listen. © 2008 Hearst Newspapers

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ALL OF US AT CRITTER CORNER take our pledge to provide the largest critter to dollar ratio of any paper in the D.C. Metro area. Seeing as the paper is free, we are pretty hard to beat, nonetheless we have decided to give our loyal readers TWO critters for the price of one (which is free). To call the two dogs featured this week a “bargain” would be doing them an immense, bite-worthy disservice. Both Rudy and his older sister, Sancha, have enough gravitas to carry 10 Critter Corners by theirselves. Together, however, they provide a critical mass of critter-ness that cannot only temporairily amuse, but CHANGE LIVES. If any life-long ailments suddenly dissapear after reading this, you have Rudy and Sancha to thank. If you would like to see your pet here, e-mail us at crittercorner@fcnp.com or send a picture and short description to Falls Church News-Press c/o Critter Corner, 450 W. Broad St., Suite 321, Falls Church, VA 22046.

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Snap a pic of your critter and email it to: CRITTERCORNER@FCNP.COM OR mail it to Critter Corner c/o Falls Church News-Press 450 W. Broad Street #321 Falls Church, Va 22046

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The Falls Church Animal Hospital family keeps on growing!!!! Congratulations to Dr. Kelly and Bill and to big sister - Savannah and to big brothers - Dakota and Breccan

March 6 - 12, 2008

Page 43

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March 6 - 12, 2008

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