PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY -- The 13th high school to be built in Prince William County in an effort to ease overcrowding is predicted to be a success -- sort of.

The new high school, to be built on Progress Court near Jiffy Lube Live, is scheduled to open in 2021. Accommodating more than 2,500 students and a price tag of $133.4 million, it is expected to ease the crowded conditions at Battlefield, Patriot and Stonewall high schools.

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HAYMARKET — It was a night for fun, family, and friends.

It was a night for Bad Art at the Gainesville-Haymarket Branch of the Prince William Library.

Participants gathered in the community room at the library to create their worst art in mixed media, collage, painting or drawing. All were competing for the coveted prize of Worst in Show.

“I’m not good at art. But this is something I can do,” said Camilla, one of the participants.

The ‘bad’ artists chose from the variety of genres and could create multiple pieces of art.

Valerie, another participant who attended with her son, Chris, said that she “loves arts and crafts.” This gave her the opportunity to create with no pressure to produce. Her son, Chris, said that he attended because he loves his mother. Chris went home with the award for worst collage.

Participants had a little over an hour to create their masterpieces. Then they voted to choose the worst in each category and the coveted Worst in Show.

The final winners were Morgan for Worst Painting, Chris for Worst Collage, Camilla for Worst Drawing, and the winner of Worst Mixed Media was the author.

And the overall winner of Worst in Show was Camilla (all last names withheld by request) for her mixed media creation. She went home with a bad mixed media creation, a certificate, and a hideous trophy that was embellished by the artists during the evening.

The evening was one of many offerings provided free of charge for adults, seniors, and children by the Prince William County Library system.

Beth Walker plans adult programs at the Gainesville Haymarket branch. These include three book clubs and the Silver Series. There are also many children’s programs. Walker said that there are currently “more programs for children than adults.” She encourages adults to “suggest programs that they are looking for.”

For adults, the library staff “try to provide stress-free adult programs,” said Walker.

With the Haymarket Town Council’s 5-1 decision to rezone 9.94 acres from business commercial to “Residential Moderate Density” land use designation, schools in the Gainesville District will become increasingly more crowded.

?“We don’t run the schools,” said Haymarket Vice Mayor Susan Edwards just before voting in support of a rezoning request that would allow 79 new townhomes to be built in The Crossroads Village Center Haymarket.?

According to Prince William County Gainesville District School Board member Alyson A. Satterwhite, Battlefield High School was over student capacity at 143.3 percent enrollment in the 2017-2018 school year, and Ronald Reagan Middle School was at 112.2 percent.

There has already been an increase in student population for the 2018-2019 school year that will add to this overcrowding. Officials estimate that the 79 proposed new townhomes will add 49 new students to the Gainesville District.

These students will have a major impact on an already overcrowded Prince William County Public School system, officials add. This over-capacity means that students must utilize more trailers for classrooms. Battlefield will have 18 trailers for the start of fall classes. Ronald Reagan Middle School, for the first time, will have five trailers.

Parents at the Haymarket Town Council meeting expressed concerns about insufficient heating and cooling systems in trailers along with safety during threats such as severe weather or active shooters when students are not inside a more secure building.

“The school division understands the concerns of the parents and the inconvenience of temporary classrooms. To ensure safety, we have a full-time school security training specialist on staff who frequently updates crisis plans and works with principals and other staff to ensure appropriate plans are in place to accommodate and protect students and staff in portable classrooms,” Prince William County Public Schools spokeswoman Diana Gulotta told Potomac Local in an email.

In addition to having classes outdoors, trailers also impact student activities, they could take up space on school grounds otherwise used for activities. Cindy Buckley, who is on the Band Support Organization at Battlefield High School told the members of the Haymarket Town Council that “one more trailer at Battlefield means the marching band has not practice area.”

?Edwards told the citizens at the Town Council meeting that they should take their comments “to the School Board and put pressure on them.” ?However, the School Board has no control over development in the county.

At a June 6 meeting of the Prince William County School Board, the Board passed an Impact Statement for the Crossroads Village Center rezoning proposal that states “the School Board is not in favor of ay rezoning that increases student capacity at schools already at or in excess of 100 percent capacity or rezoning that causes student capacity at any school to exceed 100 percent capacity.

At that meeting, Satterwhite told people to talk to the planning commission, and talk to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors and tell then we simply do not have the place in our schools for any more students right now.

”?In addition to the 79 new homes that will come as part of the Crossroads Village Center], 144 new townhomes will be built in the James Madison Commons Development and 55 new townhome units in Dominion Valley as approved by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

At the time of the approval, these two developments were projected to add an additional 93 students to the Gainesville school District. ?At the June 6 Prince William County School Board meeting, Brentsville District School Board Member Gil Trenum said that “the cumulative effect is not taken into account.”

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — It’s a story that might have come from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, of trees that observed momentous events of history. But instead of Ents, they are “Witness Trees.”

Though they can’t speak, they tell a story. What was originally a surveyor’s mark to designate property lines, Witness Trees have morphed into observers of important historical events. 

According to Bryan Gorsira, the Natural Resource Program Manager at Manassas National Battlefield Park, about eight trees have been designated as Witness Trees to the troop movements of the First and Second Battles of Manassas. While there are no plans to identify more, Gorsira estimates that there are “hundreds of other trees that old in the park that have not been designated.”

The park website provides a map of the location of the designated trees. Gorsira admits that the Park uses the term Witness Tree rather loosely, but that “no other term provided the impact they wanted.”

Witness Trees, as the name implies, usually stood near the action of a specific historical event, such as the tree that President Lincoln passed by in Pennsylvania on his way to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

It takes more than just age to qualify a Witness Tree. It must be located near some historic event to earn that designation.

Though if there is a tree with a confirmed age of over 150 years in your yard, it may be a Witness Tree to events in your family. If a property owner has evidence, such as written testimony or a photograph of a historic event that occurred at a tree, then that is a Witness Tree, even if it is on private property.

If they are on private property, the owner can have the tree cored to determine the age.

The U.S. War Department began marking and protecting Witness Trees in the 1930’s. Gorsira said that “Witness Trees in the Park were identified by overlaying drawings of historic maps and photos, aerial photographs from the 1930’s and current photographs” to determine stands of vegetation that were present in all three times. Likely trees were then bored to obtain a core that enabled staff to count the rings and determine the age of the tree.

A Witness Tree protection program began in 2006 to identify historically significant trees in the Washington, D. C. area.

Documented stories and photographs of these trees are on record at the Library of Congress. This is an ongoing project, and there is no confirmed number of the trees that have been identified.

Rob Orrison, of the Prince William Historic Preservation Division, says that the trees on the Manassas National Battlefield Park, even though they do not stand witness to a particular historic event other than troop movements, help to connect people to the story of the Civil War, allowing “them to touch history.”

Trees wounded by what they witnessed

Like the surveyor’s markings and the new designation of Survivor Trees that lived through the Oklahoma City Bombing, the attack on the World Trade Center, and the Japanese Tsunami, Witness Trees often bear the scars of what they saw. Bullets and cannonballs are sometimes embedded in the wood of these trees as a testament to the events that occurred around them.

To touch history, visit the Manassas National Battlefield Park and walk the trails where the Witness Trees still grow after surviving the battles of the Civil War and the ravages of time.

QUANTICO — The U.S. flag will once again fly over the Iwo Jima Memorial at Quantico.

During the windstorm in March, the hands holding the pole were damaged to the point that the flag was no longer stable. The statue greets visitors at the main gate to the base, as well as those who use Route 1 to drive past the base..

Bids have been solicited and received by the Marine Corps to repair the statue. A decision to award a repair contract should be made in the next couple of weeks.

The main repairs will be to the hands holding the statue, which in some places are cracked completely through. Other work will be done to restore and stabilize the limestone in other weakened areas of the memorial.

The range of repairs will depend on the extent of the damage discovered during the official inspections done during the bidding process.

Repairs will be paid for from the base maintenance fund. Work is estimated to begin in 30-90 days. The restoration of the memorial should take another three months to complete.

Despite the number of calls that have been placed to the base regarding the missing flag, officials made the decision to remove the flag until repairs could be done.

The statue is a recreation of a photograph captured by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945, of Marines raising the flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima in WWII.

Architects of the nearby National Museum of the Marine Corps modeled the building after the photograph.

Marines stationed at Quantico Marine Corps Base have offered to repair the statue themselves. One Marine called the Office of public affairs, stating “Send a Gunny and three Marines out there. There’ll be a flag up in fifteen minutes,” said Captain Ken Kunze, a base spokesman.

Patriotic Marines on base have already replaced the flag in the hands of the statue on one occasion.

Officials, fearing that the weight of the blowing flag would cause more extensive damage to the memorial, are discouraging further offers of help. It is possible, due to the current extent of the damage, that some of the fingers could actually break off.

This is not the first time the iconic statue has needed repair. The limestone memorial was vandalized in 2012 and damaged by a storm 2014.

DALE CITY — Father Willson I. “Bill” Korpi brings a new dimension to the priesthood at Holy Family Catholic Church in Dale City.

He is referred to as “father,” but he really is a dad.

Before entering the priesthood, Korpi was married for 36 years, had a son, and grandchildren. Following the death of his wife, he attended Pope St. John XXIII Seminary and was ordained at age 63.

On the recommendation of the personnel committee of the Diocese of Arlington, Korpi was chosen to fill the role of Parish Pastor following the death of the previous Priest, Father Gerry Creedon, 73, who died last November after complications from heart surgery.

Korpi became the administrator of Holy Family Parish, an interim position, on January 3. He will transition into the role of Pastor of Holy Family Parish on June 28.

Before seeking the priesthood, Korpi served as a Permanent Deacon for 10 years at Church of the Nativity in Burke. After his ordination into the priesthood, he was sent back to the same parish and served as a Parochial Vicar for 7 years.

Korpi  said that all priests have special talents, but he added, the “Unique characteristic that I bring is I am the only priest in our Diocese that has had married life experience raising children.” He also brings a background in financial administration having served as the Director of Finance for a number of small non-profit organizations.

When asked about the response of congregants to the presence of a married priest, Korpi stated, “They love it. They often come to me saying ‘I know you’ll understand’ when they have questions about family issues.”

When asked, Father Bill said that “I am of course supportive of the church’s position” on married priests. But he went on to explain that there are a few other married priests in the church. These usually have been married priests in other denominations before converting to Catholicism.

He also said  he is “very supportive of women in service” explaining that the “Holy Father is investigating the possibility of having women ordained as permanent deacons.” “To hear the perspective of a woman giving a homily from the altar  would be a beautiful thing.”

Korpi plans to build on the successes at Holy Family as he takes the reins.

“I inherited a very vibrant parish with people who are devoted to the universal church. I want to make sure that spirit lives through and past my time here.” To do that, he will strive to “Make sure all the ministries here are upheld, continued, and strengthened and that the people who run them are encouraged, and that the people of God are well fed from the moment of their baptism to the end of their life.

MANASSAS -- Imagine sitting at the dinner table munching on a dragon burger and sipping on a health potion while playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons.

That fantasy will soon be a reality when The Crossroads Tabletop Tavern opens in Downtown Manassas. It has long been a dream of owner John Hornberger to operate a gaming restaurant where patrons can dine on game themed food while playing the tabletop game of their choice.

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MANASSAS -- CenterFuse, the co-working space in Downtown Manassas, celebrated its first year in business.

The open-air co-work space seats about 30 people and also includes three private offices to support entrepreneurs so they can start their business and have a place to work outside the home office, or a place where employees of established companies may work remotely.

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