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Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011 ❖
1www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
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‘Ho-Ho Holiday Show’
Gathered ’round the tree are Westfield’s “Ho-Ho Holiday Show”
directors (from left)Dieter Stach, Colby Dezelick, Joey Biagini,
Nick Burroughs, Chaz Coffin, Erica, Schmidt,Bryan Pitt, Sophia Alam
and Corrine Holland. (Not pictured are Kelsey Thompson andStage
Manager Sarah Schweit).
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Westfield High presentssix children’s plays.
By Bonnie HobbsCentre View
Featuring five Christmas plays and one aboutHanukkah, Westfield
High presents its an-nual “Ho-Ho Holiday Show” in the
schooltheater. More than 100 theater students willtake the stage,
Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 17-18, at 2p.m., in a production directed by
seniors and gearedfor children.
They’ll perform “The Grinch,” “A Charlie BrownChristmas,”
“Frosty the Snowman,” “The Hanukkah
Story,” “’Twas the Night before Christmas” and“Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Tickets are $5;groups of 15 or more are
$4/ticket. [email protected].
‘FROSTY THE SNOWMAN’Directing “Frosty the Snowman” are Joey
Biagini
and Erica Schmidt. The nine-person play stars MeganMcMahon as
Frosty, Estella Massey as Karen andAidan Quartana as Professor
Hinkle.
“There’s lot of slapstick comedy, and the actorsmake big motions
for the little kids,” said Biagini.
“We’re learning about directing scenes, in class,and it’s fun,”
said Schmidt. “Having to look at thebig picture is different from
being an actor. You have
See Westfield High, Page 14
20 Months PrisonFor Chantilly ManHe acceptedbribes from
Iraqicontractors
By Bonnie HobbsCentre View
Thomas Aram Manok ofChantilly was sentencedlast Friday, Dec. 9,
in U.S.District Court in Alexandria to 20months in prison. He was
con-victed in September of conspiringto receive bribes from Iraqi
con-tractors involved in U.S.-fundedreconstruction efforts.
Manok, 51, of the Estates atLeeton Manor community, was adual
citizen of the U.S. and Iraq.He worked for the Army Corps
ofEngineers as a project engineerand contracting officer
represen-tative, stationed at the Interna-tional Zone Resident
Office at theVictory Base Complex.
When he entered his guilty pleain federal court, Sept. 19, he
ad-mitted using his official positionto garner cash bribes in
exchangefor his recommendation that theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers
ap-prove contracts and other requestsfor payment submitted to the
U.S.government by the contractors.
Court documents explainedthat, in March and April 2010,Manok
agreed to receive a$10,000 payment from a contrac-tor who’d been
involved in build-ing a kindergarten and a girls’school in the Abu
Ghraib neigh-borhood of Baghdad.
The contractor sought Manok’sinfluence in having requests
forpayment approved by the ArmyCorps of Engineers. Manok was
toreceive an additional bribe pay-ment from that contractor oncethe
contractor’s claim had beenapproved. Manok further admittedthat he
intended to conceal the
See 20 Months, Page 14
Local Man Convicted ofConspiracy, Tax CrimesFair Oaks resident
secretlyrepresented Pakistan.
By Bonnie HobbsCentre View
A Fair Oaks man is facing apossible eight years behindbars after
pleading guiltylast week in federal court to se-cretly conspiring
to act as an agentof the Pakistani government in theU.S., without
telling federal au-thorities about this affiliation, as
the law requires. He is SyedGhulam Nabi Fai, 62, a U.S. citi-zen
and resident of thePenderbrook community.
He also pleaded guilty to tax vio-lations in connection with a
de-cades-long scheme to conceal thetransfer of at least $3.5
millionfrom the government of Pakistanto fund his lobbying efforts
in
See 20 Months, Page 14
Volume XXV, NO. 1
SOUTHERN EDITION
Centreville ❖ Clifton ❖ Little Rocky Run
DECEMBER 15-21, 2011 25 CENTS Newsstand Price
Page 15
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2 ❖ Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011
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News
By Bonnie HobbsCentre View
There are homes decorated for the holidays— and then there’s
Jerry Martoncik’s house.Not only does he have a vast array of
holi-day sights and scenes adorning his front yard, buthe designed,
built and animated them.
“It takes 25 full days to get everything up andworking,” he
said. “People tell me they have to comeback two and three times to
see it all.”
Martoncik, 68, is a former computer-systems de-veloper who, for
11 years now, has put his skills andexperience to good use creating
a winter wonder-land outside his Clifton home. The lights went
onthe day after Thanksgiving, and stay on through Jan.2.
“When my son was 10 or 12 years old, he wantedme to build some
yard displays, but I didn’t have thetime,” said Martoncik. “But
when I retired and hewas 17 or 18, we started building them
together.”
Since then, word’s gotten out about the holidayfantasyland in
his yard and, each year, people comefrom miles around to see the
colorful animations.“But you can’t just drive by, or you’ll miss a
lot of it,”he said. “You’ve got to stop, take time and really
look
at things.”Of course, there are lots of lighted stationary
items,
such as candy canes, Christmas ornaments and poin-settias, plus
small-scale animations. But the show-stoppers are the 11
illuminated, computer-controlled,animated scenes. They include a
ski jump, a fox chas-ing a rabbit and a snowball fight during which
thesnowballs usually miss their targets but, every sooften, hit
their mark.
A girl in a sled rides downhill and penguins slidedown a glacier
into a pond of water. Two reindeerride on a seesaw, alternating
being up and down,and there’s a scene of a one-horse, open sleigh
loadedwith presents.
“A big crowd-pleaser is the flying Santa,” saidMartoncik. “He
goes from the North Pole to my housewith a sleigh and a team of
reindeer. Then Santawalks across the roof to the chimney, goes down
itand back up and then walks to his sleigh. When Ifirst put him up,
about four years ago, tons of peoplecame by. For about 2 and a half
hours on ChristmasEve, 70-80 adults with toddlers were watching
himfrom my driveway.”
Also popular is the skating snowman. With hishands on his hips,
he turns to his right and his feetgo into a skating position. Then
he skates down theice, slips, tumbles and lands on his head and
hands,upside down in the snow. Then a sign comes on read-ing,
“Oops.” Martoncik said people also like the signsaying, “Hey, kids,
watch me.” And then childrenenjoy watching the snowman’s antics
because “he’s
Using computer controls, hundreds oflights, and self-designed
and weldedframes, Jerry Martoncik has animated thecrèche scene with
Mary and Joseph arriv-ing at the stable, the child being born,
astar shining, angels appearing, shepherdsappearing and even wise
men arriving oncamels, dismounting and genuflecting.
In Santa’s Toy Shop, elves prepare giftsthat are then sent by
conveyor belt to beput into Santa’s sleigh. In the foregrounda
rabbit is about to take off, runningacross the yard away from the
fox.
A Christmastime WonderlandClifton homeowneranimates his
holidaydecorations.
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Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011 ❖
3www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
Roundups
Koroma Indicted for MurderA Fairfax County grand jury has
indicted Gbassay “Omar”
Koroma, 18, for the murder of his father, Francis Koroma, 38,who
was stabbed to death, May 27, in their Centreville apart-ment. The
incident occurred late that night, and the victim died,early the
next morning, at Inova Fairfax Hospital.
Police arrested Gbassay Koroma and charged him with murder.He
was indicted Nov. 21 and is now scheduled for a five-day,
jurytrial, April 23, 2012, in Circuit Court.
Free Carseat InspectionsCertified technicians from the Sully
District Police Station will
perform free, child safety carseat inspections Thursday, Dec.
15,from 5-8:30 p.m., at the station, 4900 Stonecroft Blvd. in
Chantilly.No appointment is necessary. But residents should install
the childsafety seats themselves so technicians may properly
inspect andadjust them, as needed.
However, because of time constraints, only the first 35
vehiclesarriving on each date will be inspected. That way,
inspectors mayhave enough time to properly instruct the caregiver
on the cor-rect use of the child seat. Call 703-814-7000, ext.
5140, to con-firm dates and times.
Sully District Council MeetingTo avoid the winter holidays, the
Sully District Council of Citi-
zens Associations and its Land-Use Committee will meet on
thethird Thursday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m., in the Sully District
Govern-mental Center, 4900 Stonecroft Blvd. in Chantilly. Call Jeff
Parnes,evenings, at 703-904-0131.
Three presentations are scheduled:❖ I-66 Automated Traffic
Management plans;❖ Outside the Beltway Tier 1 Environmental Impact
Statement
from I-495 to U.S. Route 15;❖ Proposal to construct and operate
a wireless telecommuni-
cations facility at Centreville United Methodist Church.
Help WFCM Provide MealsWestern Fairfax Christian Ministries
(WFCM) is providing holi-
day meals for more than 700 local families, but it can’t meet
thedemand without help from the community.
❖ Food baskets, boxes or bags may be dropped off Saturday,Dec.
17, from 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m., at the WFCM food pantry at
13981Metrotech Drive in Chantilly (near Backyard Grill and
Bar).
❖ Those unable to provide a whole basket of food – or whodon’t
have time to go shopping – may contribute gift cards tolocal
grocery stores, in any denominations.
❖ Grocery-store gift cards may be mailed with a note saying“food
basket program” to: WFCM, P.O. Box 220802, Chantilly, VA20153.
❖ For more information or to sponsor a family, contact
TerriKelly at 703-988-9656, ext. 105, or via [email protected].
Ifdonors want to shop for holiday-meal items and put together
thefood boxes or baskets, themselves, she’ll suggest items to
include.
ONC Planning for DeliveryOur Neighbor’s Child will be delivering
Christmas presents this
Sunday, Dec. 18, from 1-4 p.m., to families in need in the
localarea. But since this all-volunteer organization has some 633
fami-lies on its list, it could use lots of help from the community
to getthe job done. People interested in lending a hand with the
deliv-eries should go to www.ourneighborschild.org.
Adopt a Shelter AnimalThe Fairfax County Animal Shelter has
launched “Operation
Empty Cage” as part of its “Home 4 the Holidays” adoption
push.As part of this event, the shelter – at 4500 West Ox Roadºin
Fairfax– will offer free spay/neuter for the first 100 dogs and
cats adoptedfrom it until Dec. 31. Animals available for adoption
at the shel-ter may be seen Tuesdays through Fridays, noon-7 p.m.,
and Sat-urdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, call
703-830-1100.
News
Getting Involved in Mandy O’Sullivan BenefitThe fund-raiser for
Centreville’s
Mandy O’Sullivan is this Friday,Dec. 16, from 5:30-10 p.m.,
atCentreville Presbyterian Church,15450 Lee Highway in
Centreville.
❖ From 6:30-8:30 p.m., there’llbe a silent auction (pay by cash
orcheck). At 9:30 p.m., the winnerof a 50/50 raffle will be
an-nounced (the winner need not bepresent). The event also
includesa buffet dinner and nonalcoholicdrinks. Entertainment will
featurelocal deejay Lauren Bobby.
❖ Admission is $15/person or$60 maximum per family.
Pre-reg-istration for admission is availablevia PayPal: People
should log onto their PayPal accounts, click the“Send Money” tab,
and enter
[email protected] the payment as “personal-
gift” and include in the note sec-tion the family name of the
ticketpurchaser, i.e., “Smith family’stickets for the benefit, five
people.”
❖ To donate silent-auctionitems, e-mail Lara Weatherholtz
[email protected] with informa-tion about the items to be
contrib-uted.
❖ To volunteer for the event,sign up at
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C4DA4AE292-osullivans.
❖ The family requests this invi-tation be extended to anyone
inthe community who’s beentouched by the O’Sullivan family,their
friends and family or pancre-
atic cancer. An Evite invitation isat http://new.evite.com/#v
iew_ inv i t e :e id=00CAAARBSZI3CIJ6KEPBEFAQJOKGM4.
❖ Those who cannot attend theevent, but would like to supportthe
cause may donate at
http://www.payitsquare.com/collect-page/4464.
“Everyone’s support is graciouslyappreciated and no amount
donatedis too small,” said Katie O’Sullivan.“People can also help
by sending thisinformation to their online distribu-tion
lists.”
For more information, call LauraChristie at 703-217-8126,
KatieO’Sullivan at 571-289-4785, or
[email protected].
Mandy O’Sullivan saved money from each of her paychecks to treat
her family to Christ-mas in Cancun in 2008. “The memories are among
our family’s favorites,” said Katie.This photo shows the family
enjoying an authentic Mexican dinner. Standing, from leftare Ryan,
Sean, PJ and Mandy; seated, from left, are Amanda, Katie and
Molly
Centreville Woman Fights for LifeFamily holding fundraiserfor
her on Friday.
By Bonnie HobbsCentre View
The O’Sullivan children don’t know howmuch time they have left
with theirmother. But they’re hoping a fund-raiserplanned for this
Friday, Dec. 16, will yieldenough money to pay for medical
treatments to keepher alive as long as possible.
The event is from 5:30-10 p.m. at Centreville Pres-byterian
Church, 15450 Lee Highway in Centreville,and the family’s hoping
for a huge turnout. (Seebelow for details.)
A wife and mother of five children, MandyO’Sullivan has devoted
her life to taking care of them.Now, battling pancreatic cancer at
age 51, she’s fight-ing for her own life, and they’re doing all
they can to
help her.“This diagnosis was terrible because she was al-
ways healthy and physically fit,” said daughter Katie,24, a 2005
Westfield High graduate. “So it took usby surprise to have this
happen to someone so youngand healthy. Pancreatic cancer is usually
a death sen-tence, but I’m hopeful for the future and very
thank-ful for the time we’ve had together.”
Married 24 years, Mandy and husband PJO’Sullivan live in
Centreville’s Pleasant View Estatescommunity. PJ O’Sullivan works
for a pharmaceuti-cal company, was an All-American lacrosse player
atWest Point and helped coach lacrosse at Westfield.They’re
longtime members of St. Timothy CatholicChurch and, until she
became too ill to continue,Mandy O’Sullivan was a maternity-ward
nurse atInova Fair Oaks Hospital.
All five of their children played lacrosse atWestfield; four
already graduated from there, andthe fifth, Molly, 15, is a
sophomore. Katie’s also a
See Fundraiser, Page 6
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4 ❖ Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011
www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
People
By Jennifer FedorCentre View
Kate Trussell, mother to a third graderat Union Mill Elementary
in Clifton,has always been involved — as aroom parent, library
volunteer, on theschool’s PTA executive board. At the VirginiaPTA
State Convention, held Nov. 4 and 5,Trussell was honored for her
school-focusedendeavors, as a 2011 recipient of the
el-ementary-level PTA Volunteer of the YearAward.
Dana Hubchen, PTA President at UnionMill, is excited Trussell
was chosen for thisaward. “We’re very proud of her. We’revery
fortunate to have her as part of theUnion Mill family and we’re not
surprisedby this honor because she is such a specialperson.”
A self-described Army brat, Trussell re-calls her mother signing
up for volunteeractivities wherever they moved. Today,Trussell
heads the Bread Basket program atUnion Mill, organizing students,
parents,and staff in a weekly effort to provide sand-wiches to a
local food bank, Food for Oth-ers. “Every Wednesday morning we have
aclass come into the cafeteria. The parentsdonate all of the lunch
meat and cheese and
the PTA provides the sandwich baggies andsanitary gloves for the
kids to wear whilethey’re making the sandwiches,” she said.
The PTA also provides items like breadand mustard packets for
the sandwiches.Once the students have prepared as manysandwiches as
they can based on meat andcheese donations from their parents,
thefood is transported to the food bank. Ac-cording to Trussell,
“Last school year Union
Mill provided over 11,000 sandwiches tothe food bank.”
Hubchen said, “That’s amazing that ourschool is able to give
back that way. Kate’sthe one that organizes it all and
encourageseveryone. She makes it so everybody wantsto beat their
previous records, so it’s fun.”For example, Shannon Whitney’s fifth
gradeclass made more than 1,100 sandwiches inabout an hour and a
half, bringing theschool’s October sandwich total to 3,500this
year.
NOMINATED BY TWO MEMBERS ofthe Union Mill executive board last
year,Trussell was selected by the Northern Vir-ginia district PTA
for the next level of con-sideration. She felt “pretty humbled”
whena Virginia State PTA member called thisOctober to inform her
she’d won the PTAVolunteer of the Year Award.
“It sounds so strange to me [to win thisaward] because I do this
because I love it. Ido this because the kids are learning somuch
from all that we do at the school andso it seems weird for me to
receive recogni-tion for that and there’s such a large com-munity
here at Union Mill that is so involvedin the school in all
different volunteer posi-tions,” Trussell said.
She is grateful for the support of theschool staff and
administration, as well asa “fantastic committee” that works on
theBread Basket program with her.
Hubchen describes Trussell as “one ofthose people that you can
rely on to do whatneeds to be done at all times. Her interestsare
always with the school and with mak-ing sure that the kids have a
great experi-ence.”
Trussell’s own daughter is learning theimportance of giving
back; she assists hermom with carrying supplies to the car
eachWednesday and regularly checks in to seehow many sandwiches
were produced forthe week.
Trussell emphasizes parents, grandpar-ents, and family friends
participating in theschool environment as a way to know whattheir
children are learning and to teach byexample the importance of
being a goodcitizen. There are many ways caring adultscan help —
donating time and resources —to support both the school and the
overallcommunity, through school programs likeBread Basket at Union
Mill.
Hubchen said, “Union Mill is so very for-tunate to have someone
like Kate workingwith our PTA and working with our schooland making
it better for our children andbeing so involved. I think we’re
extremelylucky to have her.”
Clifton Mom Honored as Elementary-Level VolunteerAward
recognizes her dedication to school, community.
From left are Trussell’s mom, MaryRhoades; Kate Trussell and
herdaughter Sarah, 8, a third-graderat Union Mill Elementary, at
theawards ceremony.
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By Bonnie HobbsCentre View
Jennifer Campbell began volunteer-ing in Fairfax County
PublicSchools when her daughter was inkindergarten. Some 17 years
havepassed since then and, last month, she washonored as the
Virginia PTA SecondaryLevel Volunteer of the Year.
She and her husband Ron live inCentreville’s Sully Station
community.Daughter Olivia is now a second-year nurs-ing student at
Tennessee Wesleyan Collegeand son Ben is a UVA freshman who planson
becoming a doctor.
But Campbell was also a mother to threeother children — and it’s
because of all ofher children that she became a school
vol-unteer.
“When my sister died suddenly at age 40— and her husband died a
year later — Iraised their three children, summers andholidays,
since the youngest was 2,” shesaid. “I did that for 17 years. And I
got in-volved with the schools because I loved kids.I wanted to be
connected to the commu-nity, but be close to home and have a
flex-ible schedule so I could be there for thechildren.”
Campbell has a background in socialwork, went undergrad to
Cornell and didgrad work at Boston College. She was a PTA
volunteer and Executive Committee mem-ber at Cub Run Elementary,
Stone Middleand Westfield High School, often serving asPTA
president.
At Westfield, she wrote newsletter col-umns, raised funds and
organized installa-tion of the school’s marquee. She alsoworked
closely with the Westfield Commu-nity Coalition for Safe and
Drug-Free Youthto produce parent-education programs.
“It was so parents would be alert andaware and get their kids
help, if needed,”said Campbell. “Prevention is free, and it’sso
important to keep drug and alcohol edu-cation out in the open and
on parents’minds. We connected people to resourcesand programs and
made them feel theywere part of what was happening in
theirchildren’s school life.”
She’s also pleased that, at all the schoolsshe was involved
with, she “always got goodpeople to do the appropriate jobs,
includ-ing finding volunteer coordinators for theschools.” And at
Westfield, she did her bestto make a big school smaller.
“Westfield is a huge place, so I workedhard to make parents feel
welcome and thatthey should get involved,” said Campbell.“I put
parents in touch with people whocould answer their questions or
resourcesthat could help.” Although parents mightnot agree with
something, she said, “Some-times, if they could understand the
process,
they felt better about it.”She’s also proud of her ability to
remain
calm under pressure. “Looking back at allthe crises we had in
our community — theVirginia Tech shootings, the sniper,
theshootings at the [Sully District] police sta-tion and 9/11 when
the Pentagon was hit— I was volunteering in the schools then.
Imaintained continuity and a sense of nor-malcy for the kids, while
keeping the linesof communication open between parentsand
administration.”
On a lighter note, Campbell was boththrilled and relieved to be
able to pull to-gether Westfield’s all-night grad party in justa
week when the original venue pulled outof its agreement to host
it.
In addition to all her volunteer work, shestarted substitute
teaching in FCPS in 2000.
She currently works in Westfield’s GuidanceDepartment,
generating and preparing tran-scripts for students’ college
applications.
Campbell received her statewide honorNov. 5 at the Virginia PTA
Convention atthe Koger Holiday Inn in Richmond. Andas far as
Westfield PTSA President MaryColeman is concerned, “I cannot think
of abetter person than Jennifer for this honorand award. She’s such
a wonderful personand a great leader, and she was a true assetto
Westfield.”
The two first met when their children at-tended Cub Run
elementary together. “Infact, Jennifer’s the reason I got
involvedwith the PTA, beginning at Cub Run,” saidColeman. “She made
everyone feel welcomeand valued. Over the years, I’ve worked
withher through the PTA or PTSA as our chil-dren moved through
Stone and finally toWestfield.”
Coleman said both students and parentsthink highly of Campbell.
“She was an out-standing member of our Westfield commu-nity,” said
Coleman. “Jennifer had a knackof being able to keep the PTSA
focused to-ward always helping our children andschool staff in the
best way possible.”
She said volunteers like Campbell don’tcome along frequently.
“If the school wasin need, Jennifer was there,” said Coleman.“Many
times, in the summer, I’d go pastWestfield and find her trimming
the treesor pulling weeds. Jennifer inspired parentsto participate
and help make Westfield abetter school for all.”
State award spotlights commitment to schools.Campbell Honored as
Secondary Level Volunteer
At the awards ceremony are (fromleft) Fairfax County Council
PTAPresident Ramona Morrow; JenniferCampbell and Northern
VirginiaDistrict PTA Director Denise Bolton.
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Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011 ❖
5www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
www.kmajunction.com
News
From Page 2
Clifton Homeowner Animates His Holiday Decorations
A snowman built by Jerry Martoncik waves to passersby as part of
the elabo-rate, computer-animated light display Martoncik has built
in his yard for thepast 12 years.
like a clown on ice.”But, said Martoncik, “The highlight
of the whole thing is the Nativity scene.Inside are 86 different
characters, ei-ther moving in unison or at differenttimes. There
are descending angels,shepherds walking, plus wise menriding
camels.”
He and his son, daughter and wifeplan out the entire, yard
display eachyear. Almost 100,000 lights and morethan 10,000 feet of
wire make it all“come alive.” And for 1 and a halfmonths,
Martoncik’s electric bill in-creases by about $170/month. But
hedoesn’t mind because he knows itbrings so much joy to others.
“There’s a lot to it,” he said. “A coupleyears ago, a guy and
his family who’djust come back from Disneyworld saidDisney didn’t
have anything for theholidays as extensive and detailed
asthis.”
That’s why Martoncik’s so proud ofhis display. “I make it all,”
he said. “I’vealways been mechanically inclined. I’dstart with an
idea and figure out howto do it.”
Each animated scene is operated bya computer called a
microcontroller, pro-grammed to cause each character in eachscene
to move and to go on and off at cer-
tain times.“I created all the circuit boards to make
the computer operate,” said Martoncik. “But
I used to develop computer systems, so thatwas right up my
alley. And I enjoyed themere challenge of taking it on and seeing
if
I could do it.”So what’s his favorite part? “I like the
Nativity scene best because it’s the rea-son for the season,” he
said. “And whenyou watch it, you can see the wholestory of the
Nativity taking place.”
Still, it’s a tremendous amount ofwork, each year, to make the
displaypossible. “We started repairing thingsin October and setting
it up outside,Nov. 1,” said Martoncik. “It’s such a bigjob and a
time-consuming effort. Butit’s a good hobby and I’ve always likedto
do it. I also enjoy talking to thepeople who come by. And I want to
givepeople who’ve never seen it before theopportunity to do
so.”
However, for their own safety, visi-tors are not allowed to walk
downMartoncik’s driveway or go inside thedisplay, itself. They’re
encouraged toget out of their cars for a better look,but they
should remain on his cul-de-sac’s gravel road. If it’s raining,
thelights won’t be on. But, said Martoncik,“The lights look great
in the snow.”
His address is 6512 Hanover HeightsTrail. From Clifton Road, at
the trianglebefore the Town of Clifton, turn leftonto Newman Road,
right on Fairfax
Station Road and left on Hanover Heights.“The house is on the
left,” said Martoncik.“You can’t miss it.”
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6 ❖ Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011
www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
From Page 3
News
Fundraiser for Centreville Mom This FridayJMU grad now living in
Boston andworking for a professional lacrosse or-ganization. Sean,
22, attends LoyolaUniversity; Amanda, 20, is at ColgateUniversity;
and Ryan, 18, is atBridgeton Academy.
Mandy O’Sullivan’s sister, LauraChristie, also lives in
Centreville. “Sheand I have always been close,” saidChristie.
“She’s my best friend and,always, my protector.” Christie saidMandy
O’Sullivan’s normally private,selfless and humble; so for her
toagree to the fund-raiser in her honoris “a big thing. But it will
also bringattention to pancreatic cancer.”
She said Mandy O’Sullivan was avolunteer religion teacher at St.
Timo-thy and worked with dogs up foradoption at the Fairfax County
Ani-
mal Shelter. She was alsothe team mom for manyof her children’s
lacrosseand football teams.
“She’s pretty quiet un-til you know her,” saidChristie. “But
she’s funny,witty and strong. Witheverything she’s gonethrough,
she’s never com-plained or griped.”
In March 2010, MandyO’Sullivan was diagnosedwith Stage 4
pancreaticcancer. It’s the fourthmost-common cause ofcancer deaths
worldwide,and 95 percent of peoplediagnosed aren’t alive fiveyears
later. It’s often
called the “silent killer” because of itslack of symptoms, and
its causes aremostly unknown.
“She was shocked by it, but thenshe started fighting,” said
Christie.“She’s very positive, and her faith hasbeen a huge help
for her. Putting to-gether this fund-raiser, I’ve learnedtheir
family’s touched so many peoplein Centreville and the Westfield
com-munity. Lots of people wanted to beinvolved, and that says so
much abouther.”
Westfield High field hockey CoachStarr Karl also hopes the
communitywill come out in droves for the event.Said Karl: “The
O’Sullivans are a phe-nomenal family who have given backin many
ways at Westfield, St Tim’sand on the lacrosse field.”
After Mandy O’Sullivan’s diagnosis,doctors operated and removed
thecancer from her pancreas, only to dis-cover it had already
spread to sur-rounding organs. She then underwent11 months of
chemotherapy, plus ra-diation.
“Though she’s tenaciously over-come a great deal of setback
through-out her journey, the disease contin-ues to spread,” said
Christie. “And tra-
The O’Sullivans during Christmas 2007. Standing, from left are
Katie,Ryan, Amanda and Sean; seated, from left, are Molly, PJ,
Mandy and hermother Anne.
ditional medicine —which breaks down thebody’s cells, both
goodand bad — has notworked as efficiently asoriginally hoped.”
So Mandy O’Sullivanhas just begun treatmentat Natural Horizons,
anintegrative medical andwellness center in Fairfaxthat takes a
multi-pronged, holistic ap-proach to cancer. Therapyat Natural
Horizons seeksto help strengthen MandyO’Sullivan’s immune sys-tem
to help her body fightany new cancer cells.
But the facility is anout-of-network center notcovered by the
O’Sullivans’ insurance. So90 percent of the proceeds from the
fund-raiser will go toward Mandy O’Sullivan’streatment there, as
well as her previouslyaccumulated medical bills. The other
10percent will be contributed to pancreatic-cancer research toward
a cure.
“I’m thankful for my mom being thefighter she is, and I hope for
as much timeas we can get with her,” said Katie. Crying,she called
her mother “absolutely the mostinfluential woman in my life. She’s
alwaysbeen there for all us kids. She’s somebodyto lean on, a
shoulder to cry on and some-one to walk you through the big
decisionsin your life.”
Christie, Katie and her mom’s brotherRussell came up with the
fund-raiser idea,and the whole family will attend. “I thinkit’s
amazing,” said 2009 Westfield gradAmanda O’Sullivan. “I’m in awe of
how ea-
ger people are to helpwith anything and every-thing they can.
Thiswhole process reallyopened my eyes to howopenhearted people
are,and it’s a beautiful thingto see.”
Amanda said she’s try-ing to be strong for hermom. “She shaped
whoI am as a youngwoman,” said Amanda.“She taught me how tobe
strong, and it’s defi-nitely helping me now.She loves her
childrenmore than anything, sothis fund-raiser is ourway of showing
her howmuch love we have for
her in return.”
She called her mom both the “rock” andthe “glue” that’s held
their family together.“And now, when she can’t carry the wholeworld
on her shoulders, we want her toknow we can handle the weight,”
saidAmanda. “Her illness created a strong teamamong all of us.
There’s no sense havingnegative thoughts when there’s still time
tofight. We’ll deal with this card we were dealtand keep our heads
up.”
She said she doesn’t know how her mommanaged “with five kids and
all our activi-ties, going to a million places at once.”And, said
Amanda, “I want to spend therest of the time we have together
happyand smiling.”
Her brother Sean, a 2007 Westfield grad,also praised their mom.
“She’s the epitomeof a mother,” he said. “She dedicated herlife to
raising us and we’re five good kids.We’re a close family with good
morals andgood academically and athletically.”
When he was in sixth grade, he playedon four sports teams in the
spring. His dadwas busy working, so his mom drove himand his
siblings to their various practices.“She came to all our games —
and fromfifth to eighth grade, I had baseball double-headers every
Sunday, all summer,” saidSean. “But she was there, for four or
fivehours at a time.”
Learning of her cancer, he “couldn’t be-lieve it because she’s
so active and seemedso healthy. That really crushed me. Afterthat,
how I was doing depended on howshe was doing. It’s gotten worse
recently,and everyone came home for Thanksgiv-ing, and now we’re
all home again forwinter break. We all left school early tobe here,
and our extended family is here,too.”
Hopefully, said Sean, the upcomingfund-raiser will help his
mother’s spiritand morale. “I think it’s awesome, andeveryone’s
been so generous with dona-tions,” he said. “Two of my
lacrossecoaches at Army and Loyola together gaveme $2,000 worth of
lacrosse clothing andequipment for the silent auction. And
thisevent will be a chance for my mom to seeeveryone at once who
cares about her andto know how many people support her.”
Salon Teams with Catholic Charities
After a successful Thanksgivingfood drive in conjunction withthe
Knights of Columbus and St.Andrew the Apostle in Clifton,
SalonAntoine and Spa will now be a food do-nation center for the
Christmas seasonon behalf of Catholic Charities of the Dio-cese of
Arlington.
Individuals who would rather drop offtheir food during the
evening are invitedby Salon Antoine’s Tony Chahine to leavethe food
donations in bins on the frontlawn of his home at 13915 Rock
BrookCourt in Clifton between now and Jan. 6.
While there, donors are welcome to en-joy a light show every
hour and half hour
from 6 – 11 p.m. and tune to 89.1 in theircar, to listen to
music synchronized tothe kaleidoscopic lights. The music andlight
sow runs to 2 a.m. on Dec. 24.
The lightshow and sounds are providedby the AV company
iHomeIntegrationbased in Burke.
The Diocese informs that food pan-tries are in need of food
products likecanned meat and tuna, soups, peanutbutter and jelly,
pasta, rice, hot and coldcereals, juice, canned veggies and
babyfood. Personal care items like toothpasteand toothbrushes,
soap, shampoos,bathroom goods and laundry items arealso
appreciated.
“She’salwaysbeentherefor alluskids.”
— KatieO’Sullivan,
daughter
Mandy O’Sullivan
-
Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011 ❖
7www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
People
The SYA Centreville Wildcats won the champi-onship game against
their cross-town rival CYA
Chantillly Chargers recently at James Madison High School. The
gamewas neck and neck throughout the first three quarters of the
game,until the 4th quarter when the Wildcats pulled away winning
the gamewith a score of 30 to 16. This ended their season with a
perfect recordof 10 and 0. The SYA Wildcat are coached by Damian
Caracciolo, MikeClark, Tom Healy, Coach Ryan and Coach Sheil. The
boys on the teamare: Hunar Berzangi , Christian Brooks, Devon
Brough, DanielCarracciolo, Neil Chambers, Brett Clark, Joe Cuccias,
ImanDastagirzada, Ryan Estep, Gregory Holmes-Brown, Shane
Martin,Carlos Martinez, Joel Moreno, Charles Nguyen, Dominique
Pearson,Salia Samura, Tyler Scanlon, John Schmank and Zackary
Willis.
Perfect Season
In HonorSocietyLi-Cheng Liu,daughter ofCheng-His andKu-Ping Liu
ofCentreville, wasinducted intothe Beta GammaSigma honorsociety on
Oct.19, along with55 other students. She will graduate in May 2013
with a bachelor ofbusiness administration degree in accounting from
James MadisonUniversity, Harrisonburg. Above, Liu is with Dean
Robert Reid.
Standing Up to BullyingDeer Park Staff shows its support for
“Stand Up to Bullying Week” bywearing pink. The school celebrated
all week by having special dress-updays and classroom
activities.
Photo by Bonnie Hobbs/Centre View
WFCCA Celebrates the HolidaysThe WFCCA (West Fairfax County
Citizens Association) held itsannual holiday party, Sunday evening,
Dec. 11, at the Virginia Runhome of Tami and Ted Troscianecki.
Pictured (from left) are JimNeighbors, Ed McConn, Tami
Troscianecki, Jeff Parnes, JudyHeisinger, Yom Kim, Ted
Troscianecki, John Litzenberger, NoemiRodriguez, Stephen Chulick,
Carol Hawn and Jim Hart. Barking inforeground is the Troscianeckis’
dog, Max.
Andrew Shaw’s Eagle Scout project toclean up the Little Rocky
Run watershed wascompleted on Dec. 3 with assistance fromFriends of
Little Rocky Run president NedFoster. Andrew and his fellow Troop
577scouts removed trash from the watershedin the area between New
Braddock Roadand Compton Road — over a mile of streamvalley.
Andrew’s group also cleaned up a well-known hangout near the
power station onBay Valley Lane. There were a large num-ber of beer
bottles, chairs, and more on thesheer cliff at a place known as
“The Hole.”
The trash tally included: 24 full orangeVDOT bags, one bicycle,
one scooter, onepropane tank, one wooden pallet, one wirecage, 16
linear feet of 2X4s, eight linear feetof 4X4s, one 24-foot aluminum
ladder, one50 gallon plastic trash can, three deck
chairs, one plastic laundry tub, and two 5gallon buckets. The
total weight was 600lbs and cost $30. in dump fees.
Volunteers included: Scouts AndrewShaw, Timothy Kim, Anthony
Troong, NatePascoe, Spencer Horn, Collin Nelson,Eshaan Shetty,
David Bunin, Jake Murdak,Gannon LaCroix, David Schoskinski,
JacobKintzing, Prashant Desai, Michael Scheider,Collin Henson, Drew
Boland, Chris Marty,Marcus Devos, Lucas Devos, Jacob Petersonand
Andrew McLenigan, and adults StacyBunin, Chris Henson, Brian
Boland, KerryPeterson, Lee Devos, Mike McLenigan, Mar-tin Muradaz,
Mike Horn, Vinnie Caporale,Martin Shaw, Janice Shaw, Lindsay
Shawand Ned Foster, sponsor.
The Friends of Little Rocky Run want toalso thank the Navy
Federal Credit Unionwhose grant money paid for the disposal
fees.
Andrew Shaw of Little Rocky Run’s Boy Scout Troop 577, as his
EagleScout project, led a massive cleanup of the Little Rocky Run
watershed.
Eagle Project Cleans Up Watershed
-
8 ❖ Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011
www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
Newspaper ofCentreville
Little Rocky RunA Connection Newspaper
An independent, locally owned weeklynewspaper delivered
to homes and businesses.1606 King Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Free digital edition delivered toyour email box
Email name, mailing & email address
[email protected].
NEWS DEPARTMENT:To discuss ideas and concerns,
Call: 703-778-9410e-mail:
[email protected]
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[email protected]
Bonnie HobbsCommunity Reporter,
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[email protected]
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[email protected]
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A Connection Newspaper
SOUTHERN EDITION
Opinion
On Monday, Dec. 19, the newlyelected members of the
FairfaxCounty School Board will besworn in, marking the
largestnumber of new members at one timein memory.
The change on the board comes fromopen seats with previous
members de-ciding not to run. Fully half of the board willbe new
members, although most are also fa-miliar faces.
But it was apparent from the election thatvoters were motivated
by the school boardraces, turning out to have their say. It’s a
mis-take to view the election as a vote of approvalfor all current
policies or as a repudiation ofparticular policies. The level of
interest andcontroversy indicates that it’s a great momentfor the
new board to engage the public.
The fact that 70 percent of voters supportedthe school bond for
county schools shows thatcounty residents understand the
importanceof quality schools.
The school board consists of three at large
members who represent the entire county, plusnine district
members. Each voter had the op-portunity to vote for four, three at
large andone for their district.
Iryong Moon is the one incumbent remain-ing at large; Ryan
McElveen and Ted Velkoffwill join the board at large. District
membersare: Megan McLaughlin, Braddock; JanieStrauss, Dranesville;
Pat Hynes, Hunter Mill;
Tammy Kaufax, Lee; Sandy Evans,Mason; Dan Storck, Mount
Vernon;Patty Reed, Providence; ElizabethSchultz, Springfield, and
Kathy Smith,
Sully. Moon, Strauss, Evans, Storck, Reed andSmith are returning
members.
It’s important to respect the dedication andmotivation of school
board members. It’s hardto understand why anyone would want
thesejobs. The hours are never ending. The pay issymbolic. Few
decisions will come without ac-rimony from some quarters. These are
peoplewho really are dedicated to service.
That said, we offer a few suggestions, somevery general, some
very specific, for the newboard as it steps up to serve.
1) On with the campaign. Begin with a lis-tening tour. Hold some
full-board listening ses-sions around the county. Hold some
regionallistening sessions in schools and parents’ liv-
ing rooms. Listen in small groups and individu-ally. Invite
teachers and administrators to comeout on tour with you. Don’t
forget to listen toteachers as well as students, parents,
adminis-trators and more.
2) Fix large classes. You don’t have to reducethe “average”
class size. But do something aboutevery class of 30 students or
more. It’s the ex-ceptionally large classes where students
don’teven fit in the room that drive parents wild. Itdoesn’t matter
if it’s a classroom of poor stu-dents or wealthy students or
something in be-tween, really large classes are not
appropriate.
3) Are surveillance cameras really the bestuse of scarce
dollars? No matter what the cur-rent board decides to do later this
week (likelyvote on Dec. 15 after Connection deadline),set the
decision aside until after the listeningtour.
4) Don’t wait for a state law. Instruct admin-istrators to call
parents to be present if theyplan to question a student about
behavior thatcould result in serious disciplinary measuresor legal
action.
5) Celebrate the specific and varied successesin Fairfax County
Public Schools.
— Mary Kimm,[email protected]
Five Suggestions for the New School BoardHalf of the School
Boardmembers are new.
Editorial
DeepestSympathiesTo the Editor:
An unspeakable tragedy has un-fortunately occurred again, Dec.
8,at Virginia Tech. The VTV FamilyOutreach Foundation extends
itssincere condolences to the family,friends and colleagues of
OfficerDeriek W. Crouse. We recognizeOfficer Crouse to be the first
Vir-ginia Tech campus law officer tohave been killed in the line of
dutyand extend our deepest sympa-thies to the law enforcement
com-munity.
The Foundation was created byfamilies and survivors directly
im-pacted by the April 16, 2007 trag-edy at Virginia Tech. We are
wellaware of the horror that the Vir-ginia Tech and Blacksburg
commu-nities felt [on Thursday]. We knowthat the loss of these two
victimswill resonate forever and under-stand the struggles that
officers,
students, faculty and staff willhave as a result of this
day.
Family members are willing tovisit, meet with, write a letter
orspeak by phone to anyone whoneeds our help and support.
Ourmission is to assist those victimsof a tragedy with which we are
alltoo familiar.
Please know that our thoughtsare with the families of the
victims,campus law enforcement and theVirginia Tech and Blacksburg
com-munities at this time.
Joseph Samaha, President,VTV Family Outreach Foundation
Board of DirectorsLori Haas, Vice President,
VTV Family Outreach FoundationBoard of Directors,
www.vtvfoundation.org
ReligiousBackgroundTo the Editor:
It is indeed a tragic incident towitness the incident at VA
Tech,especially when nearing the holi-days. I feel for the loved
ones ofthe fallen and my sincerest con-dolences go out to them. Our
cul-prit has been identified as RossTruett Ashley, 22 of
SpotsylvaniaCounty, but one interestingthought came to mind.
Obviouslythe media wants to know every-thing about this person and
whyhe did what he did, but there’sbeen no mention of his
religious
Letters to the Editorbackground. Had this person beena Muslim
I’m betting religionwould be one of the first things wewould hear
among his description.Ashley could be a Catholic Chris-tian for all
we know, but there willbe no mention of it anywhere, sowhy is it
that religion only be-comes an issue when a Muslimcomes into the
scene? I’m not say-ing religious background shouldbe brought up
when a crime iscommitted, but there seems to bea selected
stereotype here.
No religion has or ever didpreach causing harm, especiallynot
Islam. Each religion has beenintroduced at a time when it
wasneeded, when people forgot howto live in peace, when they
ne-glected their humanity. Basicallyreligion was there for the
reforma-tion of man, and to encourage acloser connection to our
Creator.It is very easy to misunderstandand misinterpret what was
taughtmany, many years ago, so much sothat one manages to stray so
farfrom it and goes against logic.
Ashley’s acts will never sit wellwith anyone, but he is proof
thatanyone can go off the rails, andthat it’s not a religious
thing.
Seher Chowdhry
Pass It OnTo the Editor:
My son and I left Westfield HighSchool at the sound of the
2:05bell today and drove to FFC, Fast
Food Central, for a bite to eat. Wetook turns talking to the
speakerat Burger King to order our foodand pulled around to pay at
thedrive through. The young man,cashier, said something that
Ithought I miss-heard and I said,“What?” He repeated it again,“The
person in the car ahead ofyou paid for your food. You know,Pass It
On.”
I looked ahead quickly so I couldget out and rush up to this
personto thank them profusely, and theperson was quickly turning
out ofmy eyesight. I immediately lookedin my rearview mirror to
pass theact of kindness on, but there wasno one in line. I asked
the youngworker, how can I thank that per-son? He said, “I told
her, God BlessYou,” and I could tell that he wasas excited and
touched by this actof kindness, as I was.
I’ve heard of people doinganonymous acts of kindness, butwhen it
just happened to me, I feelinspired, energized, and my sonand I are
humbled to our core. Iimmediately called my sister to tellher about
this beautiful act ofkindness and hurried home to tellmy daughter
(who both were alsoawed by it). I hope this personreads this and
realizes she hashelped me look for ways to helpothers and hopefully
all of thepeople I tell and read this willwant to do acts of
kindness as well.
Sherry WatkinsCentreville
WriteCentre View welcomes views on
any public issue.The deadline for all material is
noon Friday. Send to:
Letters to the EditorCentre View
1606 King St.Alexandria VA 22314Call: 703-917-6444.
By e-mail:[email protected]
-
Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011 ❖
9www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
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By Marilyn CampbellCentre View
From Christmas lists to piles of presents un-der the tree, the
last thing on a child’s mindduring the holiday season might be
express-ing appreciation. In fact, mental health ex-perts say, it
is one of the hardest concepts to teachchildren.
Dr. Todd Kashdan, Ph.D., professor of psychologyat George Mason
University, has studied the link be-tween gratitude and happiness
and says that peoplewho are grateful tend to be less depressed and
anx-ious.
“When people are mindfully recognizing and ap-preciating the
benefits they receive from otherpeople, positive events linger
longer, [and] it is en-hancing and strengthening those
relationships. Thereis a strong link between being a grateful
person andhaving the experience of gratitude and having
morehappiness in your life,” said Kashdan, who is alsothe author of
“Designing Positive Psychology” (Ox-ford University Press) and
“Curious? Discover theMissing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life.”
DURING THE SEASON of giving, Kashdan andother mental health
professionals offer tips for par-ents for teaching gratitude to
children.
Children often hand their parents lengthy Christ-mas lists.
Experts say it is difficult for children tofeel grateful when their
every wish is granted.
“Allow them to [identify] certain things on the listthat might
be most important to them,” said AnnetteKielkopf, a marriage and
family therapist based inMcLean. “[Say to them] ‘If Santa isn’t
able to bringyou everything on the list, what would that be likefor
you?’ And talk with them about how to cope andallow them to
appreciate the smaller things. Whatyou’re trying to do is teach
coping skills. You’re teach-ing them how to accept a disappointment
and find a
diamond in the rough.”Raising grateful children requires that
parents
model the behavior.“As parents, talk about things that you’re
grateful
for and not strictly material things. That sets a goodexample so
children don’t only hear you complain-ing or nagging them. Kids
really do notice what theirparents and the significant people in
their lives talkabout,” said Karen Prince, MSW, LCSW-C,
aKensington-based clinical social worker who special-izes in
treating children with anxiety and depression.
Kashdan says parents should encourage childrento elaborate on
why they like a particular gift.
“Spelling out what makes [a gift] a good thing forthem gets them
to bookmark and underline it in theirbrain,” he said. “You want
them to elaborate on itand what they are going to do with it.
Having themsay thank you without an elaboration is just one
morething that [their] parents are telling them to do.”
This strategy works even when children receivegifts that they
don’t like.
“Sometimes it is difficult [for children] to receivea present
that they don’t like,” said Kielkopf. “Takethe gift and notice and
recognize the good thingsabout it. Maybe it is your child’s
favorite color. It isgood to have discussions about gift-giving so
that itdoesn’t become about the gift; it becomes about
thegesture.”
“I’m forever hearing kids in my office saying totheir parents,
‘But everybody in my class has an iPad.’And these are kids who are
like 8, 9 and 10. Thegrass always looks greener on the other side.
So theidea is to focus on what you have and what you need.It is a
good lesson for kids to learn early on,” saidPrince.
KASHDAN BELIEVES that one of the things thatmakes children
grateful is taking inventory of theirday.
“One of the things that we do at my house is, atthe end of the
day, we ask our 4-year-old twins, ‘Whatwas the high point of your
day? What was the bestthing that happened to you today?’ You can
makesure that the positive things that happened to themas a result
of other people stick out more,” saidKashdan.
Teaching children to havean attitude of gratitudeduring the
holidays.
The Art of Appreciation
Holiday Guide
Dr. Todd Kashdan, Ph.D. professor of psychology at George Mason
Uni-versity has studied the link between gratitude and happiness
and saysthat people who are grateful tend to be less depressed and
anxious.
Pho
to c
on
trib
ute
d
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10 ❖ Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011
www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
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5 13035 RED ADMIRAL PL ..... 4 .. 4 .. 1 ......... FAIRFAX
.......... $642,500 .... Detached .... 0.11 ... 22033 .... WILLOW
OAKS AT FAIR LKS ...... 10/12/11
6 15066 BROWN POST LN ..... 4 .. 3 .. 1 ..... CENTREVILLE ......
$615,000 .... Detached .... 0.64 ... 20121 ......... GATE POST
ESTATES ........... 10/14/11
7 4303 WOODWARD CT ........ 4 .. 3 .. 1 ...... CHANTILLY
........ $590,000 .... Detached .... 0.28 ... 20151 .........
WAVERLY CROSSING ........... 10/19/11
Source: MRIS, Inc. For more information on MRIS, visit
www.mris.com
Photos by Craig Sterbutzel/The Connection
Local REAL ESTATE
1 12685 Wiltonshire Drive, Clifton — $1,175,000
3 7104 Granberry Way,North Springfield — $855,000
4 6337 Summerday Court, Burke — $670,000
6 15066 Brown Post Lane, Centreville — $615,000
7 4303 Woodward Court, Chantilly — $590,000
Top Sales in OctoberTop Sales in October
-
Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011 ❖
11www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
To add your Realtor represented Open Houseto these weekly
listings, please call 703-821-5050
OPEN HOUSE LISTINGSWill Return after the Holidays
News
Homesfor theHolidaysThe Town ofClifton wore itsseasonal
finery,Saturday, Dec. 3,during the CliftonCandlelightHomes
Tour.
Royce and Margie Jarrendt in their diningroom decorated for
Christmas.
The Christmas tree in Jeremy and JenniferLustman’s family
room.
Jeff Stein and wife Michelle (not pictured) decoratedtheir
dining room for Chanukah.
From left: Kim and Steve Bittner withHomes Tour Chairman
Jennifer Chesley.
Chuck and Helen Rusnak are all ready forthe holidays.
Photos by Bonnie Hobbs/Centre View
-
12 ❖ Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011
www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
EntertainmentTUESDAY NIGHTSWorld-Class Jazz. 6 to 9 p.m. Paul
Langosch on bass and Rick
Whitehead on guitar. At the Copper Canyon, 5815 TrinityParkway,
Centreville. Call 703-830-6600 for reservations.
NOW THROUGH DEC. 25Enchanted Ice Palace. 10 a.m. At Fair Oaks
Mall’s Grand
Court, the Ice Palace features falling snow,
interactiveelements, footage of arctic animals and landscapes along
withstories and fun facts. The stroll concludes with a visit
withSanta and Mrs. Claus. Guests will have four opportunities
tohave their pets’ pictures taken with Santa.
Visitwww.ShopFairOaksMall.com.
NOW THROUGH JAN. 8Bull Run Festival of Lights & Holiday
Village. Admission:
Monday - Thursday $15 Cars or vans (1-14 people), $25 Van(15-34
people), $50 Bus (35 or more people); Friday,Saturday, Sunday &
Holidays $20 Cars or vans (1-14 people),$30 Van (15-34 people), $55
Bus (35 or more people).Monday - Thursday: 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.;
Fridays - Sunday andholidays: 5:30 to 10 p.m. At Bull Run Regional
Park, 7700Bull Run Drive, Centreville.
FRIDAY/DEC. 16O’Sullivan’s Benefit to Beat Pancreatic Cancer. A
benefit
for Mandy O’Sullivan. 5:30-10 p.m. Features a silent
auction,50-50 raffle, buffet dinner and drinks. Admission is
$15/person; $60/family max. Call Laura Christie at
703-217-8126,Katie O’Sullivan at 571-289-4785, or
[email protected]. To be held at PresbyterianChurch,
15450 Lee Highway in Centreville.
Holiday Choral Concert. 7:30 p.m. Free. The choral programat
Westfield High School will be performing a concert oftraditional
and modern Holiday songs on Friday, Dec. 16 at7:30 p.m.
Swing Dancing. 9 p.m. to midnight. Cost is $15. With theband,
King Teddy. Drop-in beginner swing lesson 8:30 to 9p.m. At the
Hilton Washington Dulles Airport Hotel, 13869Park Center Road,
Herndon.
SATURDAY/DEC. 17Holiday Candlelight Tour at Sully Historic Site.
5 p.m.
Historic holiday candlelight tours of the home of
NorthernVirginia’s first congressman. At Sully Historic Site,
3650Historic Sully Way, Chantilly. Call 703-437-1794.
Ice Skating Night. 7:30 to 8:40 p.m. Bull Run Elementary
School is sponsoring a community-wide skating night. Ticketsare
$7/person, which includes admission and skate rental. Atthe Ashburn
Ice House in Ashburn. Email:[email protected]
DEC. 17 AND 18Ho-Ho-Holiday Show. 2 p.m. Westfield High hosts
its annual
Ho-Ho Holiday Show. Tickets are $5; groups of 15 or moreare
$4/ticket. More than 100 theater students will perform“The Grinch,”
“A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “Frosty theSnowman,” “The Hanukkah
Story,” “’Twas the Night BeforeChristmas” and “Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Email:[email protected].
SUNDAY/DEC. 18Christmas Bird Count. The Aubudon Society of
Northern
Virginia will mark the 112th anniversary of the Christmas
BirdCount. Volunteers will count birds in a circle
aroundCentreville. The area includes Manassas National
Battlefield,Bull Run Regional Park, undeveloped areas around Bull
RunPost Office Road and Dulles Airport. ASNV is seekingvolunteers
to help. Contact ASNV at [email protected] call
703-438-6008.
Christmas Cantata. 8:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. Jubilee ChristianCenter
Music Department will perform the Christmas Cantata,“Joy to the
World.” Jubilee is located at 4650 Shirley Gate Rd.,Fairfax. Call
703-383-1170 or see www.jccag.org
WWII Christmas at Sully Historic Site. 5 p.m. SullyHistoric Site
is all decked out for a WWII era Christmas athome of Northern
Virginia’s first congressman. At SullyHistoric Site, 3650 Historic
Sully Way, Chantilly. Call 703-437-1794.
DEC. 19-20Holiday Spectacular. 7 p.m. Chantilly High presents
its
annual Holiday Spectacular. It features more than 300students
from the school band, choir, theater and orchestraprograms in a
festive, fun-filled, family event. Tickets are $10/person at
www.chantillychoral.org. Click on the “Buy TicketsNow” tab on the
left side of the main page. This show usuallysells out prior to the
event, so patrons are encouraged topurchase tickets online in
advance.
FRIDAY/DEC. 23Swing Dancing. 9 p.m. to midnight. Admission is
$15. With the
band, The Thrillbillies. Drop-in beginner swing lesson from8:30
to 9 p.m.; dancing from 9 p.m. to midnight. At the HiltonWashington
Dulles Hotel, 13869 Park Center Road, Herndon.
The best in thesport of purebreddogs will flock toOrlando, Fla.,
onDec. 17-18, tostrut their stuff atthe AKC/Eukanuba Na-tional
Champion-ship. Chantillyresident MariaRoyal and her dogCh High
PinesHush Puppy willcompete againstthe top show dogsin the country.
Theshow will air onthe ABC-TV onFeb. 4, 2012.
The AKC/Eukanuba Na-tional Champion-ship is the largestprize
money dogshow in the world,with cash andprizes awarded totaling
more than $225,000. This prestigious compe-tition is
invitation-only.
After a full day of Pokémon Trading Card Game battles in New
Hol-land, PA, Joseph Moretto, 11, of Centreville, clinched second
placeat the 2011 New Holland Pokémon City Championships, earning a
topcity ranking and Championship Points which count toward a
potentialinvitation to the Pokémon U.S. National Championships in
Indianapo-lis, Indiana next summer.
People
Centreville High School is havingits Annual Christmas Tree Sale.
All pro-ceeds will benefit the Centreville HighSchool Turf Field
Fund. Hours areThursday and Friday, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.;Saturday and
Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.Fraser Furs sell for $55 (5-6 ft.), $60
(6-7 ft.), $65 (7-9 ft.) At Centreville HighSchool.
Clifton Children’s Academy willbe holding a Registration Open
Housefor Kindergarten and morning, after-noon and full-day
preschool classesThursday, Jan. 12 and Thursday, Jan.26, from 9:30
- 11:30 a.m. This is forregistration for Fall 2012. There willalso
be limited registration available forthis Winter - 2012. Bring your
child andcome to tour the school. The school islocated at 14315
Compton Road inCentreville. Call 703-968-8455 or
visitwww.childrensacademy.com .
FRIDAY/JAN. 6International Night. 7 p.m. Westfield
High presents its International Nightin the school auditorium.
Performingtraditional dances from theircountries will be Krisnia
LaFuente,Bolivia; Viswaja Kaja and Lalita Kota,Southern India;
Shilpa Gokhale,Lalitha Guruju and Ambica Kalburgi,Northern India;
and Lidiya Kelsseya,Tezeta Mela and Maeza Tesfaye,Ethiopia. Two
different and ancientmusical instruments will be played byAlborz
Shirms and OmidKhaksavtard, representing Iran.Singing will be
students HariKappipor, representing SouthernIndia, and Valeria
Sierralta, Peru.International food will be servedduring
intermission.
Fairfax County Public Schoolsteachers earned certification
fromthe National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in2011.
The board-certified FCPS teachers, withtheir schools in
parentheses, are:
❖ Kristin Cagle (Centre RidgeElementary School);
❖ Barb Caley (Robinson SecondarySchool)
In addition, the following board certifiedteachers have renewed
their boardcertification for an additional tenyears:
❖ Nancy Holincheck (Chantilly HighSchool);
The Centreville High School PTSAwill be hosting one-hour
collegeworkshops on these datesimmediately following the
regularPTSA meetings which begin at 7 p.m.followed by the college
workshop at8 p.m. Kaplan Test Prep Educatorswill present the free
workshops.
❖ Feb. 21: SAT or ACT 10 QuestionChallenge
❖ March 20: Accepted - Getting intoyour First Choice School
❖ April 17: SAT or ACT Essay WritingMay 15: SAT Critical
Reading
Timothy Eisenhardt and JosephLang, Centreville natives and
seniorengineering students at JamesMadison University, are working
oncompleting their Capstone Projects.The will be part of JMU’s
firstgraduating class of engineeringstudents. Eisenhardt is working
withhis team to design, build and test aPiezoelectric
OligonucleotideSynthesizer and Microarrayer. Langis working with a
team to design andconstruct a robot to enter into TheTrinity
College Fire Fighting RobotCompetition (FFRC). The FFRC is ayearly
competition in which teamsconstruct robots that can maneuverthrough
a simulated home with fourrooms, hallways, rugs, furniture,
wallhangings, and uneven flooring.
School Notes
Maria Royal and her dog Hush Puppy.
Kristina Massie from Fairfaxworked on the production of
astudent-produced sitcom at DrexelUniversity that made its
networktelevision debut on Philadelphia’slocal CBS affiliate The CW
Philly 57this month. “OFF CAMPUS” is asitcom produced by students
inDrexel’s Antoinette Westphal Collegeof Media Arts & Design.
The storylinecenters around the adventures andmisadventures of
recent collegegraduates and roommates Claire,Dean, Felix, Hailey
and Nick.
Lee Seidner, a senior fromCentreville, majoring in music inthe
College of Liberal Arts andHuman Sciences, has gainedmembership to
the MarchingVirginians at Virginia Tech.
Tommy Polson, a senior fromCentreville, majoring in economicsin
the Pamplin College of Business,has gained membership to
theMarching Virginians at Virginia Tech.
Carolyn Korch, a junior fromCentreville, majoring in
hospitalityand tourism management in thePamplin College of
Business, hasgained membership to the MarchingVirginians at
Virginia Tech.
Sarah DeVito, a junior fromCentreville, majoring inmathematics
in the College ofScience, has gained membership tothe Marching
Virginians at VirginiaTech.
Chelsea Croll, a junior fromCentreville, majoring inmanagement
and Spanish in thePamplin College of Business andCollege of Liberal
Arts and HumanSciences, has gained membership tothe Marching
Virginians at VirginiaTech.
-
Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011 ❖
13www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
See CVHS's Storybook, Page 16
Centre View Sports Editor Rich Sanders703-224-3031 or
[email protected]
By Rich SandersCentre View
By the positive demeanor of theCentreville High football
playersand their fans during the latterstages of the Wildcats’
47-21 stateAAA championship game loss to OscarSmith High
(Chesapeake) last Saturdayevening at Scott Stadium on the
Universityof Virginia campus in Charlottesville, onemight have been
under the mistaken im-pression that the Centreville team was
win-ning the game.
Players did not have their heads down,postures were not
slouched, and there wereno sign of teammates complaining or
point-ing fingers for the way the game hadevolved.
The Centreville team, although too farbehind to realistically
come back and win,was playing all out on each play. Ball carri-ers
were running hard, linemen, both onoffense and defense, were
bursting off theline, and receivers were running crisp, pre-cise
patterns or helping out with blocks.
On the Centreville sideline, players wereencouraging one another
with pats on thebackside and paying attention to the playon the
field. Meanwhile, directly behind theteam’s bench, the Wildcats’
large contingentof fans, made up of the student body as wellas
parents and other Centreville faithful,cheered on the team as
heartedly as theyhad when the score was tied at the start ofthe
game.
Coaches were still coaching, players werestill playing, and the
fans were still cheer-
ing. It didn’t matter what the scoreboardread. The overall
mindset seemed to beupbeat in nature because of what theCentreville
team, with the rampant supportof its adoring community, had
accomplishedover the course of this championship sea-son.
There was, during Saturday’s game, acan’t-miss connection
between the team andfandom which had been apparent all sea-son long
and was still vibrant as the finalminutes of the 2011 season ticked
away inCharlottesville.
The season-long refrain of the CentrevilleHigh football
community — players,coaches, school personnel, and fans — be-ing
“family” might seem corny to opponentsor fans of other teams. But
it was a bondwhich played a tangible role in the team’sbreakthrough
season which saw the Wild-cats, under second year head coach
ChrisHaddock, capture their first Div. 6 North-ern Region title in
11 years and qualify forstates.
“We fought and left everything on thefield,” said senior team
leader and runningback Manny Smith, who led his teammatesinto the
stadium prior to the state finalsgame, waving a large Centreville
team flag— a banner adorned with a black Wildcats’paw with a
Columbia blue back drop — andeventually going towards the sideline
anddirectly towards the Centreville fans wherehe waved his arms to
fire them up morethan they already were. “We don’t quit andwe won’t
give in. As a leader on this team Itry to put as much emotion into
the gameas possible.”
A day earlier Smith had asked if the Wild-cats could display the
flag upon coming intothe stadium.
“I’m an emotional guy and I talked tocoach Haddock and asked him
if we couldbring the flag,” recalled Smith. “I didn’t haveto be
carrying it out.”
Haddock eventually decided it would bea good idea and, on the
morning of thegame, asked Smith if he would carry the
flag and lead the team onto the field. WhenSmith led the
Wildcats onto the stadium, itwas a moment he and Centreville fans
willalways remember.
“It was great running out of the tunnelwith our fans, family and
friends in thestands,” said Smith. Smiling, he said, “See-ing our
crowd there — those are the crazi-est people you’ll ever meet.”
THE PREGAME EMOTION carried overinto the game for Centreville.
On the game’sopening kickoff, Wildcat senior ConnorCulleiton flew
down the field and made asparkling tackle of the Oscar Smith
kickreturner, who had just barely crossed thefive yard line. Then,
on the Tigers’ first playfrom their own six, quarterback
JaylianWilliamson, back in shotgun formation, wasunprepared for the
center snap. The ballwent right past the startled QB and out ofthe
end zone for a stunning two-point safetywhich gave Centreville the
game’s firstpoints.
As the rules of a safety apply, Oscar Smithwas then required to
punt the ball toCentreville. Chase Walter further ignited thecrowd
with a 31-yard return to the Tigers’38 yard line. Unfortunately
from aCentreville perspective, the Wildcats werenot able to score
on that possession.
Oscar Smith would go on to score touch-downs on its next three
possessions, surg-ing ahead 21-2, behind the play ofWilliamson, a
quarterback with a Div. 1 col-lege caliber arm and an ability to
evade passrushers. Williamson, who has committed toplay college
football in-state at HamptonUniversity next school year, went on to
havea phenomenal game, completing 17 of his20 passes for 240 yards
and two touch-downs.
“He’s a good football player, no doubtabout it,” said Haddock.
“He stepped up and
They might not have won the game, but Centreville’s players and
fanssure had some great moments in Charlottesville on Saturday.
Centreville recovered a second quarter squib kick moments
following aChase Walter touchdown catch which pulled the Wildcats
within 21-9.
What a Football Season for the WildcatsState finals loss doesnot
diminish 2011storybook campaign.
Connor Coward runs to daylight as Oscar Smith players
pursue.
Pho
tos by C
rai g
Ster
butzel/C
entre V
iew
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14 ❖ Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011
www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
Westfield High Presents Show of Six Children’s PlaysFrom Page
1
Resident Secretly Represented Pakistanpayments from authorities
by transferringthem, via associates, from Iraq to Armenia.
Manok was sentenced last week by U.S.District Court Judge
Anthony J. Trenga.Following completion of his prison term,he’ll be
on three years supervised release.A forfeiture hearing is slated
for Jan. 13,2012, to determine how much money heowes the federal
government because ofhis crime.
This case was investigated by the FBI’sWashington Field Office,
the Departmentof Defense Office of the Inspector General,the Army
Criminal Investigation Commandand the Defense Criminal
InvestigativeService. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S.Attorney
Paul J. Nathanson and trial attor-ney Mary Ann McCarthy of the
CriminalDivision’s Fraud Section.
This prosecution is part of efforts under-way by President
Barack Obama’s inter-agency Financial Fraud Enforcement TaskForce.
Obama established this task force asa way of waging a coordinated
effort to in-vestigate and prosecute financial crimes. Formore
information, go to www.stopfraud.gov.
20 Months PrisonFrom Page 1
News
to consider each actor, not just what you’redoing.”
Biagini directed Westfield’s VTA compe-tition piece, “Oleanna,”
so this play markshis second time at the helm. Toughest, hesaid, is
“dealing with the actors’ time-sched-ule conflicts, because this
isn’t someone’sentire life. But I enjoy seeing things
cometogether.”
Schmidt said the audience will like theirplay’s humor and the
overall variety of showsin the whole production. “They’re not
justabout Christmas,” she said. “And ‘’Twas theNight before
Christmas’ is a dance show.”
As for “Frosty,” added Biagini, “I think thekids will enjoy the
big personas the actorsbring to the stage.”
‘A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS’Nick Burroughs and Chaz Coffin are
di-
recting “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to-gether. The cast of 11
features BrandonSanchez as Charlie Brown, MadeleineBloxam as Lucy,
Mitchell Buckley as Linus,Rachel Moser as Sally, Julian Sanchez
asSchroeder and David Koenigsberg asSnoopy.
“Things are going well,” said Burroughs.“We’re putting final
touches on the shownow. Because it’s such a classic and so fa-mous,
the audience will enjoy seeing itonstage and recognizing some of
the dif-ferences between the cartoon and our ver-sion.”
“The children will like the slapstick, thecolorful costumes and
the comedy,” saidCoffin. “And we’ll also have some holidaymusic
playing.”
Thrilled to be a director, he said doing soas a student “makes
me feel like I’ve grown
in this department and have finally gottento the place every
actor waits for — being adirector.” Coffin said the most difficult
thingabout directing is “organizing everythingonstage so the
audience will respond to theplay positively.”
“Directing is a lot harder than I realized,”said Burroughs.
“It’s not just the staging,but getting everybody in the same place
atthe same time and focused on the sameobjective.”
Regarding their play, said Coffin, “Thechildren attending the
show will flip overall these characters they usually see on TVand
read about in storybooks.”
Added Burroughs: “A lot of people comeback to see this show,
year after year, like aholiday tradition for them, and new
audi-ences will be able to do the same thing.”
‘THE HANUKKAH STORY’Although the subject is serious, “The
Ha-
nukkah Story” is presented as a comedy.Directed by Bryan Pitt,
it has a cast of 13,including Zoe Hawryluk as Judy Macabee,the
leader of the Jews, and Zack Walsh asKing Antiocus, the king of the
Greeks.
“It’s the story of how the Greeks invadedIsrael and took over
their land, and howthe Israelites got it back,” said Pitt.
Narrat-ing are Sy and Celia, portrayed by AlexMann and Ali
Koenigsberg, respectively.
“They’re an old, Jewish couple telling thisstory to the audience
while the actors showwhat happened,” said Pitt. “It’s a split
stagewhere half is the real world and half is theflashback world. I
think the audience willlove it. There are a bunch of clever
bits,jokes and puns we put in for the adults, plusplenty of
physical comedy for the kids.”
He said directing’s fun because “you get
to work with so many different people. It’smore about teamwork
and getting a groupof individuals who don’t have anything incommon,
besides a love of theater, to worktogether to make the best story
possible.”
‘NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS’Directing “’Twas the Night before
Christ-
mas” is Corinne Holland, and the story istold mainly through
dance. “There are nar-rators and a family with children,”
saidsophomore Emily Tobin. “It’s the children’sdream of the fairies
vs. the rats, but the re-indeer, rats and fairies don’t speak.”
In this vignette, the nutcracker and therat king fight, and the
fairies all turn intoreindeer. Santa Claus brings presents andall
the reindeer do a kickline dance led byRudolph.
“It appeals to kids because it’s almost allmusic and dancing,”
said Tobin. “The girlswill like the fairies and the boys will
likethe rats.” Regarding the whole “Ho-Ho Holi-day Show,” she said,
“It will be wonderfulbecause we have great actors and it’s justfun
stuff to watch.”
‘RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REIN-DEER’
The 12-person cast of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” includes
T.J. Vinsavich asRudolph; Annie Snyder as an elf; OliviaJoseph as
Rudolph’s love interest, Cupid;and Tabeer Singh as Rudolph’s arch
enemy,Blitzen. Directing are Kelsey Thompson andSophia Alam.
“The plot follows the song, and we addedhow Rudolph interacts
with the other rein-deer,” said Alam. “We also added an elf andan
elf helper — an elf-in-training who triesto be like the leader
elf.”
Besides that, she said she and Thompsongave this story more
modern jokes that theaudience will understand and relate to.They
also made it more humorous than inpast years so, said Alam, “The
stereotypicalcharacters are really funny. And hopefully,at the end,
the children will learn a nicelesson that we’re all different, but
we’re allfriends.”
She said directing is challenging because“you want everyone to
have fun and theactors to be comfortable. But at the sametime, they
need to be focused and ready towork and make a commitment. So that
canbe a bit stressful. But I enjoy helping actorsfind their voice
and teaching them ways toact in front of other people. I try to
bringthe best out of them and show them theycan do it.”
‘THE GRINCH’Directed by Colby Dezelick and Dieter
Stach, “The Grinch” has nine characters andstars Dezelick as the
Grinch, Sam Dempseyas Cindy Lou Who and Bryan Pitt as Max.“The
actors are picking up things reallyquickly,” said Stach. “They
bring a lot ofgood ideas to the table so the group dy-namic is
fun.”
Stach is typically a sound engineer, so thisshow marks his first
time directing. “I’mglad to be working with Colby,” he said.
“Weshare a lot of the same ideas, and it’s fun towatch our
initially rough ideas come to-gether.”
In this vignette, Stach reads the story andthe actors react to
it. “We’re also putting insome quirky acting bits and scenarios
thatshould be fun for the audience,” he said.“It’s a classic, Dr.
Seuss tale that shows whatChristmas is all about.”
From Page 1America related to Kashmir.
Fai served as the director of theKashmiri American Council
(KAC), a non-governmental organization in Washing-ton, D.C., that
purported to be run byKashmiris, financed by Americans anddedicated
to raising the level of knowl-edge in the U.S. about the struggle
of theKashmiri people for self-determination.But according to court
documents, theKAC was secretly funded by officials em-ployed by the
government of Pakistan,including the Inter-Services
IntelligenceDirectorate (ISI).
“For the last 20 years, Mr. Fai secretlytook millions of dollars
from Pakistaniintelligence and lied about it to the
U.S.government,” said U.S. Attorney NeilMacBride. “As a paid
operative of ISI, hedid the bidding of his handlers in Paki-stan
while he met with U.S. elected offi-cials, funded high-profile
conferences andpromoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in
Washington.”
“Mr. Fai purposefully hid financialtransactions from the U.S.
government,with intentions that his scheme to fundlobbying efforts
by a foreign government
would go unnoticed,” said FBI AssistantDirector in Charge James
McJunkin.“[But] the FBI will detect and defeat thosewho attempt to
surreptitiously exert for-eign influence on our government by
us-ing agents who conceal their foreign af-filiation.”
Arrested July 19, Fai appeared lastWednesday, Dec. 7, in U.S.
District Courtin Alexandria and entered his guilty pleasbefore
Judge Liam O’Grady. He could nowreceive as much as five years in
prisonfor the conspiracy offense, plus a possiblethree years
incarceration for the tax vio-lation, when he’s sentenced on March
9,2012. As part of his plea agreement, Faiwill forfeit $142,851.32
seized from himby the government in July.
“The Tax Division is committed to pros-ecuting any individual
who illegally usesthe tax-exempt status of charitable enti-ties to
promote or conceal federal crimes,”said Principal Deputy Assistant
AttorneyGeneral John DiCiccio.
Doing so, added IRS Special Agent inCharge Jeannine Hammett,
“harms allAmericans, as we all have to pay our fairshare for the
government services andprotections that we enjoy.”
Fai admitted in court that, from 1990until about July 18 of this
year, he lied toand defrauded the U.S. government. Andaccording to
court documents, Fai told FBIagents in March 2007 that he’d never
metanyone who identified himself as beingaffiliated with the ISI.
Then in May 2009,he falsely denied to the IRS on a tax re-turn for
the KAC that the KAC had receivedany money from foreign sources in
2008.
Furthermore, court documents statethat, in April 2010, Fai sent
a letter to theJustice Department claiming that the Pa-kistani
government didn’t fund the KAC.He also told the IRS that the KAC
hadn’treceived any money from foreign sourcesin 2009. Again, in
July 2011, Fai lied tothe FBI that neither he nor the KAC re-ceived
money from the ISI or from Paki-stan.
But in fact, U.S. authorities say he re-peatedly submitted
annual KAC strategyreports and budgetary requirements toPakistani
government officials for ap-proval. In 2009, they say, these
documentsincluded his plans to “secure U.S. congres-sional support
for U.S. action in support
See Convicted, Page 18
-
Centre View South ❖ December 15-21, 2011 ❖
15www.ConnectionNewspapers.com
By Marilyn CampbellCentre View
Each year, parents whoopt out of their neigh-borhood public
schoolin favor of an indepen-dent school must sift through thelong
list of the Washington area’sindependent schools to find onethat
meets the needs of their child.
They must then navigate thelengthy application required bymost
schools, and hope that theirefforts are deft enough to gain
ac-ceptance in a competitive environ-ment. Some schools report
receiv-ing as many as nine applicationsfor each available slot.
Even for prospective pre-kinder-garten students, the
independentschool admissions process oftenincludes a written
application,admissions tests, parent state-ments, student
interviews, parentinterviews, playdates, school vis-its,
transcripts and teacher recom-mendations.
“What we’re trying to do is get awhole picture of a child and
lookat information from a variety ofdifferent sources,” said
ChristinaTait, director of admission and fi-nancial aid at The
Langley Schoolin McLean.
THE APPLICATION PACKETSprovide insight for both the schooland
the applicants. “We have afairly detailed process so that weget to
know the girls and they getto know us,” said Pilar Cabeza deVaca,
head of the Madeira Schoolin McLean. “Our goal is to findgirls who
are the right fit for ourschool and for whom our schoolis the right
fit.”
The role of each component ofthe application varies dependingon
the age of the applicant. “Theadmission [process] for youngchildren
is especially complex anddifficult because we have to useboth
explicit and intuitive mea-sures because we have less data,”said
Diane Dunning, director ofadmission and financial aid at
St.Stephen’s & St. Agnes School inAlexandria. “If you were
lookingat a ninth grade [admissions]folder, you would have eight
yearsof report cards and maybe fouryears of standardized testing.
Youare also able to interview [olderapplicants] in a different way
thanwhen you are interacting with theyoung children.”
Why is so much probing neces-sary?
“Schools are looking for consis-
tency in grades, attitude, testingand recommendations,” said
Lind-say White, educational consultantwith the School Counseling
Groupin Washington, D.C. “[For ex-ample] If there is a huge
differencebetween a [teacher] recommenda-tion and what they are
seeing onthe grades, that is going to be ared flag.”
Most schools want prospectiveapplicants to spend time on
cam-pus. “The [school] visit is impor-tant to us. It gives the boy
and hisfamily a chance to experience theHeights first hand,” said
RichardMoss, director of admission at theHeights School in Potomac,
Md.“On the flip side,