LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 1, No. 40 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
[ Aug. 11 – 17, 2016 ]
20 SPOTLIGHT ON CHEFS: Meet DC Prime’s meat man
Beaverdam Reservoir to be Reborn
Renss Greene/Loudoun Now
A kayak waits on the shoreline at Beaverdam Reservoir in Ashburn. The manmade body of water will be closed for two years, but promises to reopen as a more public friendly lake.
BY RENSS GREENE
L
oudoun’s largest lake is a quiet place, disturbed only by singing insects, birds on the wing, wind in the trees, and paddles lapping up the water. It’s also artificial, and it’s getting drained in November.
The county’s largest water utility, Loudoun Water, will partially drain Beaverdam Reservoir to repair the spillway that created the lake, work regulated by Virginia dam safety rules. The reservoir is expected to be closed for about two years, but when it reopens in 2019, Loudoun Water and the Northern Vir-
ginian Regional Park Authority hope it will be bigger and better for visitors. “If you’ve ever driven up and down Belmont Ridge Road on a Saturday, you’ll inevitably pass people with kayaks and canoes on top of their cars,” said NOVA Parks Director of Park Operations Chris Paulie.
Loudoun Deputy Fatally Shoots Man in Aldie BY NORMAN K. STYER For the third time in four years, the Virginia State Police is investigating a fatal shooting by a Loudoun law enforcement officer. The latest shooting happened early Friday morning in Aldie. A Loudoun County deputy was called to a home on Carriage Horse Drive in the Loudoun Crossing
neighborhood after a female resident reported a male occupant was damaging items inside. The 4:45 a.m. call was dispatched as a domestic-related disturbance. According to an initial report from the Sheriff ’s Office, when the deputy arrived, a man carrying knives advanced toward the deputy near the front doorway. The deputy, who has not been publicly identified,
repeatedly instructed the man to drop the knives before firing a single shot, which fatally injured the man, 58-year-old Johannes Melvin Wood. At the request of Sheriff Mike Chapman, the Virginia State Police is conducting the investigation. State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said investigators will have no comment on the case until a report is present-
His organization manages public access to the reservoir’s waters, and he estimates thousands of people use the lake, including the high school crew teams that practice on the body of water. And more people try the lake all the time. BEAVERDAM>> 39 ed to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office for review. It is uncertain when that report will be complete. While authorities have released no additional details about the case, a family representative has said Wood suffered from mental illness and was in the care of his sister, who made the 911 call from the safety of a locked room Friday morning. Additionally, deputies had been called to the home the previous day for another disALDIE SHOOTING >> 38
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