We’re getting the first word on the Manassas Bee Festival, which will return to the Liberia House and Grounds at 8601 Portner Avenue in Manassas.
Now in its third year, the festival will be held Saturday, June 24, 2023.
City Councilwoman Theresa Coates Ellis and the city’s Beautification Committee are organizing the event have organized the event. Few other details about the event have been announced. Event organizers are seeking sponsors, and you can find more information here.
At the previous Manassas Bee Festivals, visitors were treated to a costume parade, the waggle dance, a spelling bee, a new bluegrass band Wayne Fairfax and Friends, live beehive demonstrations, a mead garden, farm animals, wagon rides, and more.
The event is held in conjunction with National Pollinator Week. Last year, Lawn Love ranked 2022’s Best States for Beekeeping, placing Virginia near the top of its list.
Corrected: We’re told the city’s beatification is not working on planning this year’s bee festival.
Kindergarten registration opens March 1 for Stafford County Public Schools for the 2023-2024 school year! Parents and guardians of children who are five years old by September 30, 2023 are encouraged to complete the online registration process.
The following documents are required for enrollment:
- Driver’s License or Photo ID for Parent/Guardian
- Official Birth Certificate for Child
- Current Physical and Immunization Records Prior to the Opening of School
- Proof of Residence/Domicile
- Must provide one of these: Deed, Lease, Tax Bill
- Must provide two of the following options that are current for the last two months with the parent/guardian name: Utility Bills (tied to the home), Employment Verification (payroll stubs, current employer verification on company letterhead), Tax Documents, Other Official
- Correspondence with Government Agencies, Medical Bills, Consecutive Bank Statements (for 2 months), Vehicle Registration, Driver’s License, Insurance Policy
The school division will host community Mobile Enrollment Festivals, in-person registration events, through July 14, 2023 to assist families with the registration process. Families with younger children may also apply for the Head Start, Early Head Start, and Virginia Preschool Initiative programs. These early childhood programs are open for 3- and 4-year olds, infants, toddlers, and pregnant women of low-income families that live in Stafford County and meet the federal or state income-eligibility guidelines.
Translators are available in Spanish, Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Pashto, and Urdu during these community Mobile Enrollment Festivals. During the festivals, students will have the opportunity to earn their “Training Wheels” by visiting the big yellow school bus. Drivers and attendants will teach students proper boarding and riding procedures, and students will be able to explore the school bus before the first day of school. During the events, donation bins will be available for community members to drop off school supplies in support of the school division’s Collect for Kids program.
SCPS welcomes all students regardless of race, color, creed, sex, religion, national origin, or disabling condition who live within the boundaries of the Stafford County Public School district and meet state age and health requirements. For more information about SCPS visit www.staffordschools.net.
Keep Prince William Beautiful, and House of Mercy are having a Fix-It-Fair event on April 22, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 8150 Flannery Court near Gainesville.
Acceptable items for repairs are small/large appliances, jewelry, clothing, bicycles, and small furniture.
Fix-It events allow members of the community to bring salvageable items for repair and subsequent reuse.
This service event has been very popular in other communities. in 2020, almost 40 Prince William residents were excited to get special treasures repaired and bikes, electronics, and lawn equipment running again. Along with recycling, repair and reuse practices help conserve landfill space and enhance the quality of our environment. Read More
And just like that, Prince William County Planning Director Mark Buenavista is gone.
Buenavista resigned this week, after less than a month on the job, according to sources who spoke with PLN.
His resignation follows two others who walked out of the county’s planning office, including Meika Daus, who resigned following a contentious public hearing on a plan to build data centers and 135 homes at Linton Hall and Devlin roads next to hundreds of existing homes in Bristow.
Daus was a deputy in the department assigned to the land-use case, which seeks to rezone nearly 300 acres from suburban mixed residential land to industrial. In 2022, she also worked on the controversial Prince William Digital Gateway project, a more than 800-acre rezoning next to the Manassas National Battlefield Park, now cleared for data center construction.
Steven Gardner, a planning manager at the development department, resigned last month. A spokeswoman for Prince William County Executive Christopher Shorter has not responded to a request for comment on the departures.
Since 2020, there’s been a revolving door at the county’s planning department. In 2021, Parag Agrawal announced his resignation. In 202o, we were the first to tell you that Argawal accepted a job as planning director in Charlottesville before ghosting the city and reporting for his new job in Prince William County.
Agrawal lasted about a year in Prince William County. Rebecca Horner was the last planning director to work in the department for over a year. Horner was promoted to Deputy County Executive in 2020.
Data centers and the prospect of building more have continued to drive a wedge between neighbors who want to maintain their relatively quiet lifestyle in the suburban neighborhoods and developers and a majority of Democrats on the Board of County Supervisors who support rezoning more land for industrial use.
The project at Linton Hall and Devlin roads, the Devlin Road Technolgy Park, will return to the Board of Supervisors on March 7, 2023, after more than 90 people spoke to oppose the project.
About five labor union officials who stand to benefit from the project were the only supporters. Supervisors unanimously voted to defer the decision until March after a majority of Democrats on the board killed a motion to deny the rezoning, effectively ending the project.
The public hearing on the project is closed, so residents who attend the March 7 meeting won’t get to speak on the matter.
A Special Election on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, to decide the next Gainesville District Supervisor has also been dominated by data center discussions. Republican Bob Weir opposes building more data centers in the county’s rural lands, citing lacking electricity and water resources and the noise data centers generate when cooling the server farms inside the buildings.
Democrat Kernsa Sumers, who is largely funded by labor unions, calls for developing more data centers in rural areas to increase the county’s tax base. During a candidate forum sponsored by the Leauge of Women Voters and the Prince William Committee of 100 held on February 9, Sumers said the Haymarket and Gainesville areas have been rural for too long and should be built out to resemble the Sudley Road corridor near Manassas.
On February 17, 2023, the Stafford County Health Department confirmed that an orange and white colored, short hair cat collected on February 15, 2023, from the 100 block of Ottinger Lane, off Widewater Road in Stafford County, was positive for rabies.
It’s the second case of detected rabies in a cat in the same area this month.
The cat was a feral cat that was trapped in order to take it to the animal control shelter. There were confirmed human exposures through bites or scratches from the cat.
Three individuals were advised to obtain rabies post-exposure preventive treatment from the local hospital Emergency Department to prevent the development of human rabies.
The Health Department is notifying the public in case any people or pets may have had contact with this cat. Any individuals exposed/potentially exposed to this cat should seek medical advice promptly from their healthcare provider to evaluate whether rabies prevention medication is needed.
Individuals may also contact the Stafford County Environmental Health Office at 540-288-9018.
Likewise, if your pet was exposed/possibly exposed to this rabid cat or any potentially rabid animal, please consult your veterinarian promptly. In addition, please notify Stafford Animal Control at 540-658-7387 and the Stafford County Environmental Health Department at 540-288-9018. On weekends or after hours, please call the Virginia Department of Health 24-hour answering service at 866-531-3068 and ask for the staff member on call for the Rappahannock Area Health District.
Rabies is a disease caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system. It is preventable in animals through vaccinations but fatal to animals and humans if not treated immediately.
Authorities in Stafford County arrested sisters after a pursuit and crash on Route 17.
On Friday, February 17, at 3:22 p.m. Deputy M.E. Gordon stopped a gold Nissan Maxima at 626 Warrenton Road for failing to yield to oncoming traffic. The driver provided a fictitious name and claimed she was nervous since she had never been pulled over, police said.
Deputy F.J. Martinez responded as backup and observed the female passenger was also extremely nervous.
As Deputy Gordon realized the driver had active warrants, the driver shifted the vehicle into gear and police followed. The suspect proceeded northbound onto Warrenton Road and disregarded two red traffic signals. Unable to negotiate the intersection at Plantation Drive, the suspect ran off the road and crashed into a crosswalk signal, ending the vehicle pursuit.
The driver fled on foot toward Sebring Drive but was no match for Deputy Martinez, police said. She was apprehended and identified as
The passenger made a run for the border, Taco Bell. Thinking outside the bun did not work as her pink hair made her easily recognizable. Deputy Gordon took the passenger into custody in the Taco Bell parking lot moments after the driver was detained.
Kelzy Young, 19, the driver, was served her outstanding warrants and charged with eluding, possession of a controlled substance, identity theft, false identification to law enforcement, hit and run, obstruction, reckless driving, no driver’s license, failing to yield, and expired inspection.
She was also wanted for three fail-to-appear warrants in Stafford and two outstanding warrants in Fredericksburg.
The passenger, Sharlynia Young, 21, was charged with obstruction and possession of a controlled substance. Both sisters were held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail.
Manassas Park is looking out for the safety of visitors at Signal Hill Park.
The city removed three dead trees from the 89-acre park, so they wouldn’t fall and injure guests.
More from city parks and recreation spokeswoman Loren Luck:
Three dead trees were removed and one tree had low-lying branches removed that posed a hazard to patrons who used that portion of the Signal Hill Park walking trail. These trees and limbs fell, because they were removed due to being dead and hazardous to patrons. Manassas Park Parks and Recreation Park Managers used best tree management practices, as well as receiving a second opinion from contracted tree removal services, before the determination to remove the trees and limbs due to the hazards they presented to the public.
This portion of the Signal Hill Park trail was closed from 10am-4pm on Wednesday, February 15th and reopened at 4pm that day.
There are three parks in Manassas Park City: Signal Hill, Costello, and the newest, Blooms Park, site of the old General’s Ridge Golf Course.
Exit 148 (Quantico) to Exit 143 (Aquia/Garrisonville)
Tuesday – Thursday, 9 p.m. – 10 a.m. and Thursday – Friday, 9 p.m. – 6 a.m. and Friday – Saturday, 10 p.m. – 7 a.m. Single lane closure between interchanges for construction on the 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension project.
Exit 143 (Aquia/Garrisonville) to Exit 140 (Courthouse Road)
Tuesday – Friday, 9 p.m. – 10 a.m. Single lane closure at mile markers 143-141 for construction on the 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension project, except for Friday morning, when all lanes open at 6 a.m.
Exit 140 (Courthouse Road) to Exit 136 (Centreport Parkway)
Wednesday – Thursday, 6:30 a.m. – 10 a.m. Single lane closure at mile markers 140-138 for construction on the 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension project.
Exit 140 (Courthouse Road) to Exit 136 (Centreport Parkway)
Thursday – Friday, 9 p.m. – 6 a.m. Lane closures are scheduled at mile markers 140-138 for the 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension project. Crews will be restriping pavement near the American Legion Road overpass at the following times:
9 p.m. – Single lane closure
10 p.m. – Double lane closure
Midnight – 3 a.m. Full traffic stops for up to 30-minute intervals
4:30 a.m. – All lanes open
Exit 136 (Centreport Parkway) to Exit 133 (Falmouth/Warrenton)
Tuesday – Thursday, 9 p.m. – 10 a.m. Single lane closure between interchanges for barrier work for the 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension.
Exit 126 (Spotsylvania) Off-Ramp
Tuesday – Friday, 9 p.m. – 10 a.m. Mobile lane closures on off-ramp between I-95 and Route 1 for barrier wall installation and removal of cleared trees and vegetation. Early construction activities for the I-95 southbound off-ramp widening and Route 1 southbound widening.
Exit 126 (Spotsylvania) and Exit 118 (Thornburg)
Sunday – Thursday, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m. Single lane closure at the bridge over Ni River, located at mile marker 121, for replacement of bridge joints. Single lane closure begins at 9 p.m. followed by double lane closures at 10 p.m. All lanes will reopen by 5 a.m.
I-95 Northbound
Exit 118 (Thornburg) and Exit 126 (Spotsylvania)
Sunday – Thursday, 9 p.m. – 5 a.m. Single lane closure at the bridge over Ni River, located at mile marker 121, for replacement of bridge joints. Single lane closure begins at 9 p.m. followed by double lane closure at 10 p.m. All lanes reopen by 5 a.m.
Exit 118 (Thornburg) to Exit 126 (Spotsylvania)
Wednesday – Thursday, 9 p.m. – 4:30 a.m. Double lane closure near the Route 17 (Mills Drive) overpass at mile marker 125. Crews will move a crane being used to build the new interstate overpass.
Exit 130 (Route 3) to Exit 133 (Falmouth/Warrenton)
Tuesday – Thursday, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Single lane closure near Fall Hill Avenue overpass. Crews will refresh pavement markings as part of the I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing project.
Exit 133 (Falmouth/Warrenton) Off-Ramp
Tuesday, midnight – 3 a.m. The off-ramp from Interstate 95 northbound to exit 133 (Falmouth/Warrenton) in Stafford will be closed for three hours early Tuesday morning for construction on the I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing. Motorists will be directed to use exit 136 (Centreport Parkway) as an alternate exit.
Exit 133 (Falmouth/Warrenton) to Exit 136 (Centreport Parkway)
Tuesday – Friday, 9 p.m. – 4:30 a.m. Lane closures between interchanges for installation of overhead signs as part of the I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing project and 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension.
9 p.m. – Single lane closure
10 p.m. – Double lane closure
Midnight – 3 a.m. Full traffic stops for up to 30-minute intervals
4:30 a.m. – All lanes open
Stafford County
Route 3
Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Lane closures and shoulder closures for utility work between Dairy Lane and Rumford Road.
Route 17 (Warrenton Road) Southbound
Tuesday – Thursday, 8 p.m. – 7 a.m. Southbound lane closures on Route 17 near the I-95 overpasses, between Sanford Drive and Short Street. Multiple construction activities for the I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing project, including grass seeding.
Route 17 Business (Warrenton Road) Southbound
Monday – Saturday, 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. Southbound Route 17 Business will be reduced to a single travel lane between Heartfields Lane and Washington Street for a road maintenance project.
Dumfries will hold its annual Black History Month Celebration at Little Union Baptist Church, at 17150 Batestown Road in Dumfries.
The keynote speaker will be Rev. Cozy Bailey, the head of the Prince William County NAACP Chapter and husband to the elected Prince William County Supervisor Andrea Bailey.
The event is Saturday, February 25, 2023, at 11 a.m.
https://www.potomaclocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Colorful-Black-History-Month-PosterFlyer_-002.pdf
