Editorial: Diversity Growing
Tune in to our series on immigration.
This week, Centre View and Connection Newspapers kicks off a series about immigration, diversity and the growing population of foreign-born residents in Fairfax County. County reporter Victoria Ross opens with a story that captures vignettes and statistics of the changing population.
Handling ‘Everything under the Sun’
Animal Control officer talks about his job.
Andy Sanderson has been a police officer for 20 years and an animal control officer for 15, and he recently shared his knowledge and expertise with members of the Sully District Station’s Citizens Advisory Committee.
Westfield Wins VTA Competition
School’s first victory in statewide acting contest.
The local community knows how talented Westfield High’s theater students are; now, so do people in the rest of the state. The young thespians won the school’s first-ever Virginia Theatre Association (VTA) competition, beating out 44 other schools statewide. The event was held Oct. 26-28 at the Reston Hyatt, and Westfield’s victory propels its actors to sectional competition, March 6-10, in Louisville, Ky. There, they’ll vie against some 30 other first-place winners from across the Southeastern U.S. Westfield performed the one-act play, “The Hothouse,” by Harold Pinter and were onstage 45 minutes. And besides the overall championship, students Mitchell Buckley and Madeleine Bloxam took home All-Star Acting awards. “I’m very proud of the work the students did, especially since it was a student-directed piece,” said Westfield Theater Director Susie Pike. “They tackled difficult material — absurdist theater, which is very mature. So it was a great learning experience, and one of my goals here in the department is to provide as many learning and leadership opportunities as I can.”
‘Serve with Napkins and Ketchup’
Recipes for Thanksgiving
Students in teacher Caryn Lynch’s first-grade class at Colin Powell Elementary tell their favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner and how they’d prepare it. Turkey – “Stuff it with turkey and put it in the oven. Cook it 2 minutes at 1 degree and serve it with chicken-fried rice.”
Boy Scout Food Drive Successful
The annual, Boy Scout “Scouting for Food” Drive was Saturday, Nov. 10. Locally, Scouts collected food donated by residents, sorted it and brought it to WFCM (Western Fairfax Christian Ministries) for its food pantry. Some 58,691 pounds of food was collected in the Sully District – which is 1,700 pounds more than last year.
Boy Scout Food Drive Successful
The annual, Boy Scout “Scouting for Food” Drive was Saturday, Nov. 10. Locally, Scouts collected food donated by residents, sorted it and brought it to WFCM (Western Fairfax Christian Ministries) for its food pantry. Some 58,691 pounds of food was collected in the Sully District – which is 1,700 pounds more than last year.
Roundups
Women's Self Defense Program
The Fairfax County Law Enforcement Foundation is partnering with the Fairfax County Police Department to offer the Women's Self Defense Training program. It’s based on the SAFE program formerly provided by the Police Department, but now being taught by C&J Security Corp.
Roundups
Meals on Wheels Volunteers
Fairfax County needs Meals on Wheels drivers in Chantilly and group Meals on Wheels coordinators in both Chantilly and Fairfax. Contact Volunteer Solutions at 703-324-5406, TTY 711, VolunteerSolutions@fairfaxcounty.gov or visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dfs/olderadultservices/volunteer-solutions.htm.
Roundups
WFCM Seeks Food, Volunteers
Western Fairfax Christian Ministries’ (WFCM) food pantry urgently needs donations of oil (48 oz. or smaller); flour (2-5 lb. bag); sugar (2-5 lb. bag); rice; canned meats; salad dressing, jelly; jam; peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, Ramen Noodles, canned fruit; canned beets and collard greens; canned soup and beans; dry pasta and beans; ketchup, mustard, pancake mix and syrup; hot and cold cereal and coffee. In addition, the Food Pantry would appreciate fresh produce, such as tomatoes, from local gardens.
Roundups
Centreville Elementary Seeks Grant
Centreville Elementary has been nominated by its PTA for a $50,000Clorox Bright Futures Grant. If awarded, the grant will be used to support the school's healthy movement initiative. The school will install a running/walking track for the students and community. This is a nationwide competition, and the entity with the most votes will win.
Roundups
ONC Needs Community’s Help
Our Neighbor’s Child (ONC) is preparing for its 21st holiday season providing new toys and clothing for children of families in financial crisis in Centreville, Chantilly and Western Fairfax. But it’s a volunteer organization and it can only carry out its mission with the support of local churches, schools, businesses and individuals. And this year, in the face of a difficult economy, ONC needs help more than ever from groups or individuals willing to furnish clothing for local children in need. The number of requests for winter coats, jackets and other warm clothing is high again this year. Specific information (sizes, etc.) will be available before Thanksgiving.
Roundups
Free Carseat Inspections
Certified technicians from the Sully District Police Station will perform free, child safety carseat inspections Thursday, Nov. 29, from 5-8:30 p.m., at the station, 4900 Stonecroft Blvd. in Chantilly. No appointment is necessary. But residents should install the child safety seats themselves so technicians may properly inspect and adjust them, as needed
Roundups
Sully District Council Meeting
The Sully District Council of Citizens Associations and its Land-Use Committee will meet Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m., in the Sully District Governmental Center, 4900 Stonecroft Blvd. in Chantilly. The topic is Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Services in the Sully District. Call Jeff Parnes, evenings, at 703-904-0131.
Roundups
Fair Oaks CAC to Meet
The Citizens Advisory Council of the Fair Oaks District Police Station will meet Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 7 p.m., in the roll-call room of the police station. It’s at 12300 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway in Chantilly.
Roundups
Advanced Academics Meeting
Fairfax County Public Schools will hold community meetings next week to gather public input about the timing of expanding advanced academic services to all pyramids within the school system. The goal is to make sure all students have access to advanced academic programs (AAP). Locally, the meeting is slated for Tuesday, Nov. 27, from 7-9 p.m., in the Westfield High cafeteria for Clusters 6, 7 and 8.
Roundups
Donate Blood, Save Lives
Total Framing, at 9528 Main St. in Fairfax, will hold its second annual blood drive in honor of Owen Wicks (the son of a Clifton Elementary alumnus) and Ryan Dillon (whose father was a former Clifton Elementary P.E. teacher). Both lost their battles with Osteosarcoma earlier this year, but this blood drive is to honor their memories and help others batting cancer and other diseases and conditions requiring transfusions.
Roundups
Donate Blood, Save Lives
Total Framing, at 9528 Main St. in Fairfax, will hold its second annual blood drive in honor of Owen Wicks (the son of a Clifton Elementary alumnus) and Ryan Dillon (whose father was a former Clifton Elementary P.E. teacher). Both lost their battles with Osteosarcoma earlier this year, but this blood drive is to honor their memories and help others batting cancer and other diseases and conditions requiring transfusions.
Roundups
Parkway Overpass Now Open
As of Thursday, Nov. 15, VDOT shifted traffic onto the new Fairfax County Parkway bridge over the Fair Lakes Parkway and Monument Drive. The new bridge spans from south of Fair Lakes Parkway to north of Monument Drive. With the new overpass, motorists won’t encounter a traffic signal for the five-mile stretch between Popes Head Road and Route 50. The work is part of a $69.7 million interchange project set for completion next spring. It’s being built to ease traffic congestion at the intersection of these two, heavily traveled thoroughfares.
40 Years Prison for Centreville Murder
Man killed his ex-girlfriend’s sister.
Despite the fact that Man Ha Park left his wife and daughter to run off with another woman, they both testified on his behalf before he was sentenced for murdering that woman’s sister. But neither their pleas nor tears could save him from being sentenced to 40 years in prison for a killing so brutal that the prosecutor called the crime scene “a blood bath — worse than in many horror movies.” The offense occurred June 6, 2011 and was actually a triple stabbing. The murder victim was Centreville resident Mihwa Kim, 49. During Park’s preliminary hearing, Sept. 7, 2011, the ex-girlfriend, Shanna Kim, 52, testified that Park stabbed both her and her sister and then tried killing himself, as well. She said he was armed with two long knives — a kitchen knife and a sushi knife. The tragedy happened inside the Elms of Centreville apartment complex, across Braddock Road from the Old Centreville Crossing Shopping Center. Shanna Kim had known Park four years and he’d lived with her and her sister in that apartment — where Mihwa’s husband and 14-year-old daughter also lived — until Park moved out, May 29, 2011.
Remembering Bonnie Huneke - Virginia Run Turkey Trot To Be Run in Huneke’s Honor
Time doesn’t heal — you just call it the new normal.” - Stephen Huneke, widower
Each year, the Virginia Run Turkey Trot is run in honor of a community resident who’s died of cancer, and this year’s Thanksgiving Day event is in memory of Bonnie Huneke. She died Oct. 27, 2011 of breast cancer at age 50. Sixteen-year residents of Centreville’s Virginia Run community, she and her husband Stephen, a government contractor and retired Army major, were married 21 years; their children are Elizabeth, 31, Craig, 26 and Mary, 19. Bonnie’s first husband, Army CWO3 Billy Bolin, preceded her in death. “She was one of those super-friendly people who never met someone she didn’t like,” said Stephen Huneke. “Every day, she’d be out walking our golden retriever and met a lot of neighbors that way.” Bonnie also loved planting flowers and gardening; and as the children grew, she and Stephen enjoyed attending their athletic events in SYA and in high school. She also volunteered at Virginia Run Elementary, Stone Middle and Westfield High and worked at Westfield’s blood drives, too. An active person, she used to be an avid runner until a bone tumor on her right knee, 18 years ago, forced her to have a prosthetic knee. Because of that, several times over the last 15 years, doctors had to remove scar tissue on her knee.