What Makes Centreville Special
I have loved living in Centreville for 24 years, but my family’s history in the village goes back 150 years to the Civil War. In August 1862, my great, great grandfather McGraw marched with New York’s 157th Infantry to the tiny town. The Republican state senator and abolitionist had one goal: end slavery. When Lieutenant McGraw arrived, he found thousands of soldiers bivouacked in the desolate village where a second battle in Manassas had just tinted Bull Run’s water red with the shredded bodies of approximately 25,000 men in blue and gray. Little did he know that his new home — a tent — would transform into a peaceful house for his great, great granddaughter a century later.
Insider’s Perspective
Importance of Neighborhood Spirit
Sully Station II, Centreville, is a very active and friendly community with a lot of great events and programs for all ages. Being Neighborhood Watch Coordinators for Sully Station II and surrounding communities gives us a chance to work with community residents and businesses, the Sully District Police, and Fire Station 438. Crime is really, really low in Sully District thanks to the Fairfax County Police, and having a Neighborhood Watch program helps educate neighbors to be aware and look out for each other. Events like National Night Out, which we have been hosting since 2003, is a great opportunity to show neighborhood spirit and demonstrates our community’s commitment to fight crime.
Insiders’ Tips
Cherishing Franklin Glen
Franklin Glen has been a wonderful place to raise our family. We moved here in 1985 and our children are now grown. Many of the friendships they made here have continued into their adult lives. The swim team was perhaps the greatest "glue" of all. It was a wonderful experience for both children, especially our daughter Molly, who waxed philosophical at her final team cookout at age 18. She had compiled and read aloud numerous nuggets of wisdom entitled "Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned on the Franklin Glen Swim Team." My favorite from that list is "Winning doesn't always mean finishing first." Our children didn't always finish first, but that team was a huge part of the "village" that helped them and so many others to feel like winners.
Column: Life in the Cancer Lane
Having been there and done that now for three and a half years certainly helps. And however familiar it may be and/or has become, it doesn’t exactly help to pass the time or affect the results, unfortunately. Cancer sucks! That much is clear. Now and in the future.
Herndon Home to Many Popular Restaurants
More than 100 restaurants offer food from more than 30 cultures.
Herndon’s signature restaurant is, according to many locals, Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern. Owner Jimmy Cirrito, a native of upstate New York, signed his lease on Veterans Day, 1996, and has been a fixture of the community ever since.
Nearly 800 Jobs Added to the Local Economy
Information technology firms and professional service companies see growth.
Information technology firms continue to do well in a sluggish economy, according to a new report from the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA). During the second quarter of 2012, the FCEDA provided services and resources to 33 businesses that are adding almost 800 jobs in Fairfax County. Most of these businesses are in the information technology and professional services sectors and four are foreign-based firms using a Fairfax County location to expand in North America.
Minority-Owned Businesses Prosper in Fairfax County
Companies generate more than $1 billion in revenue and provide more than 1,000 jobs.
Businesses owned by Hispanics, African-Americans and women shine in Fairfax County, according to the latest national rankings for largest or fastest-growing companies. "Fairfax County is proud to be a community in which companies of all descriptions can and do succeed to a greater extent than in the rest of the region, the state or the country," said Gerald L. Gordon, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, which supports and monitors the growth of local businesses. Eleven Fairfax County-based companies are among the 500 largest Hispanic-owned businesses in the nation based on revenue — more than the total in 40 states, according to a recent report by HispanicBusiness.com. The Fairfax County companies are among 22 from Virginia on the 2012 Hispanic Business 500 list.
Time for School
Advice on how to transition from a laid-back summer to a hectic academic year.
When Ellen Feldman’s 5-year-old son started school for last fall, one of the biggest adjustments for the single mother of two was having to adhere to a schedule. “All of a sudden we went from being able to do things on our own time frame to having to wake up and be at a certain place at a certain time,” said Feldman. “Sending my son off to school for the first time was exciting, but also difficult.”
Food, Fun And Festivities
Neighbors, firefighters and police celebrate National Night Out.
It could have been just an ordinary Tuesday night — families eating quiet dinners in their homes, behind closed doors. But instead, last Tuesday, Aug. 7, residents of Centreville’s Sully Station II community joined together in four neighborhoods for outdoor block parties.
Centreville Roundups 8/16
Roundups
‘Born to Be an Educator’
Franklin band director retires after 28 years.
Lawrence Walker was at Franklin Middle when it opened in 1984. But now, after 30 years with Fairfax County Public Schools — 28 of them at Franklin — the school’s band director has retired.
Pakistan Festival at Bull Run Park
The Pakistani-American community will celebrate the 65th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence at the Pakistan Festival on Aug. 26 at Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville.
Editorial: Starting School Prepared
First day of school is Sept. 4; local nonprofits provide school supplies and weekend food.
With school beginning in a few weeks, area charitable organizations have been collecting contributions of new backpacks, calculators, other school supplies, money and gift cards and winter coats to help the tens of thousands of truly needy Northern Virginia students.
Classified Advertising Aug. 15, 2012
Read the latest Classified, Home and Garden and Employment!
Making Beautiful Music
Students participate in Franklin’s Band and Orchestra Camp.
Take 710 students, 35 teachers and musical instruments of every size and shape and you get Franklin Middle School’s Band and Orchestra Camp.
Column: A Pill a Day…
Hopefully will keep the cancer at bay. (I’d say “away,” but let’s be realistic, three and a half years past a NSCLC diagnosis, there is no way, generally speaking, that stage IV lung cancer disappears into the ether; it’s classified as stage IV for a reason.
Letter: No Enemies on TJ Admissions Front
To the Editor:
FCPS is not being honest, straightforward or holding itself accountable for the fact that too few of these disadvantaged kids are achieving as well as others relative to their populations and too few are fostered appropriately so they can be identified for and take advantage of advanced curricula, including advanced academic programs (AAP) and thence TJ and high school honors, AP and IB programs. The leaders in this system have had years to figure out how to make serious improvements, but they have hidden and spun or not even bothered to gather data and have excluded individuals and groups that could be partners in resolving this situation. Thus, we have a segregated system, as the data show.
Learning History Firsthand
Veterans tell Rocky Run students about WWII.
Each year, WWII comes alive for seventh-graders at Rocky Run Middle School. That’s because, besides what they learn about it from their textbooks, they get to hear firsthand from those who lived through it.
Realizing a Dream
Garrett begins job of deputy fire chief.
Since he was a boy, William Garrett knew he’d grow up to be a firefighter. Although he and his family have lived in Centreville six-and-a-half years, he was born and raised in Alexandria’s Gum Springs community — and that’s where the spark was ignited.
Chantilly Pain Clinic Owner Is Convicted
Oxycodone distribution, healthcare, tax fraud.
The owner and president of a pain clinic in Chantilly was convicted Friday, Aug. 3, in Federal Court of conspiring to distribute and actually distributing oxycodone, a controlled drug.