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Jaime Burton

On Monday, July 6, 2020, Jaime Burton , loving husband, father, and grandfather, passed away at the age of 63. He is survived by his beloved wife of 25 years Jerri Burton; his three children Tanisha, Andy, and Michelle; his four grandchildren Brandon, Jayden, William, and Saphira; his sisters Bev and Darlene; his brother Marshal; and a host of family and friends. His death is preceded by his parents and his sister, Cynthia

Services for Jaime will be held on Friday, July 17, 2020 at Mountcastle Turch Funeral Home, 4143 Dale Boulevard, Dale City, Virginia 22193. Visitation will be from 10 am to 12 pm, with a service following. Jaime will be laid to rest at Stafford Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Kidney Foundation, www.kidney.org.

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As many confederate statues are being taken down in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, a statue of the former slave Jennie Dean will be built to honor her efforts that helped African Americans in the late 1800s.

A small version of a planned bronze statue of Jennie Dean slated to be erected in Manassas. [Photo: Manassas City Government]
On July 3, a crew from Kline Memorials arrived on the grounds of the Jennie Dean Memorial, at 9601 Prince William Street in Manassas, the future location of the statue to install a granite base for the statue.

The effort to erect the statue has been a 20-year undertaking. According to the Jeannie Dean Masterplan Update on the Manassas City website, the original plan for completion was supposed by the fall of 2019 if fundraising hit its goal before that date. But as donations are still needed, the completion of the project is further delayed until the donation goal is met. If interested in donating, please visit this link to contribute today to the project.

According to Manassas City article on “Who Was Jennie Dean?”, Jennie Dean was an inspirational woman of color who spent her early days as a slave. After the civil war, she helped train her people’s life skills and helped build churches that provided a safe community for African Americans to learn and thrive.

After raising money for decades, she managed to get Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth chartered and built. The school was eventually taken down, built again with new schools, that was renamed several times before leaving to what we know today as Jennie Dean Elementary School.

The planned statue has been over 20 years in the making. We previously reported in January of this year, that the campaign has reached over 73% of its donation goals as the sculptor, Chris Hill got to work on the bronze statue.

The project has increased its project total from needing $175,000 to now $350,000 as installation and enhanced landscaping charges, including connecting walking paths, adding a kiosk, amphitheater, and signage has been added.  We have reported in the past that Manassas Councilwoman Michelle Davis-Younger stated that the city has donated over $125,000 to the campaign.

According to the Manassas City Memorial Campaign page, a generous donation from Corliss Udoema, who is the owner of Contract Solutions Inc., donated $10,000 to support the cause. According to Prince, the total amount of money raised for this project by stated above donors and anonymous community members is $149,000.

 

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Stafford County’s Economic Development Authority is urging the Board of Supervisors to send a message to merchants: “We’re open for business.”

EDA members at a joint meeting with the Board of Supervisors at Stafford Hospital on July 7 urged supervisors to consider rezone more land, leading to the development of more homes.

This, they said, would pique the interest of larger retailers who have traditionally skipped Stafford County, opting to build stores in neighboring Prince William and Spotsylvania counties.

“Stafford has a reputation that ‘we’re closed,’ and of that ‘we want to be the little rural county south of D.C.,” said EDA Chairman Joel Griffin.

Businesses have located in Prince William County, especially the eastern portion of the county along Interstate 95, due to the sheer density of homes. In Spotsylvania, leaders there have indicated they’re amenable to rezoning, turning farmland into subdivisions which, in turn, brings commercial developers to the table, he added.

The EDA pointed to mixed-use Embrey Mill planned community in the center of the county soon to be home to a new Publix grocery store, and the site of a sports and recreation center, as the future model of development for the county.

It also says the county needs more destinations where people can gather for experiences and share ideas.

“What do people want? Farm Brew Live in Manassas is what people want,” said EDA member Skip Causey, describing the complex in Prince William County that includes a brewery, restaurant, and live music venue.

The EDA also continued to push for the development of a mixed-use neighborhood next to the county’s courthouse, dubbed “downtown Stafford,” as a place that could house small retail shops and restaurants, as well a destination for people to gather.

The wheels on this project, which includes widening Route 1 in front of the courthouse, and a land swap involving the county government and the owners of a property located adjacent to the courthouse, stalled Tuesday when Supervisors deferred a vote on the land swap to its meeting in August.

“[Sales tax] revenue is hemorrhaging out of the county and going to Fredericksburg and Woodbridge, and as far as Tysons corner, because there’s a place for people to go. They’re not going to go to [Garriosonville Raod] and walk around Target for four hours,” said Griffin.

Most of the county’s businesses are located along two corridors: Garrivonville Road (Route 610) and Warrenton Road (Route 17).  And, according to the county’s land-use plan, that’s where they want them. The EDA suggested more development be approved along the Route 1 corridor.

Last year, the county explored the option of expanding the transfer of development rights (TDR) areas in the county, which would allow property owners in rural areas to sell their development rights to commercial developers that would use them to build more high-density developments. In turn, property owners in the rural areas could never sell their property to a developer but could keep it for farming.

The possibility of downzoning land — where the local government reduces the number of homes that can be built per acre — is still on the table.

“What I hear you saying it’s that we need to downzone,” said Rockhill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch.

Opponents of downzoning say such a move makes their property less valuable to developers because they can’t build as many homes per acre on the land, effectively reducing the developer’s profit margins.

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Apparently, public information doesn’t come cheap in Dumfries.

The town collected $24,000 in revenues from Freedom of Information Act requests, and other miscellaneous fees in the Fiscal Year 2020, which ended June 30. The line item amount represents a 944% increase over what the town had anticipated for the year, which was $2,500, according to a preliminary budget report provided to the town council.

In the Fiscal Year 2018 budget, the town stated it collected $1,397 for the same line item.

Potomac Local News asked town manager, Keith Rogers, about the increase. He declined to explain why the number increased by such a large amount, but did offer this statement via email:

“I assume that the report you reference is an unreconciled, unaudited report that was provided to the Council on June 30th. This report simply provides a snapshot at a given time of spending levels.

Miscellaneous revenue is funding received that is not anticipated or otherwise accounted for. The majority of the funds in this line are related to electronic and credit card payment processing fees.

As is standard, these processing fees are collected at the time of payment and passed on to the credit card and electronic payment vendors.”

Dumfries is one of four towns in Prince William County, including Haymarket, Occoquan, and Quantico. In Occoquan, FOIA revenues are flat.

“We have not collected any FOIA revenues in FY 2020, according to our Treasurer, and we have not budgeted any for FY 2021,” Occoquan Mayor Earnie Porta told Potomac Local News.

Potomac Local News got a similar explanation from a Manassas City spokeswoman, who told PLN the city shows a $0 balance for FOIA requests. PLN got a similar explanation from the Prince William County Government, too.

“The county does not track total FOIA costs collected. Also, FOIA charges reflect the county’s actual costs in responding to FOIA requests, so they are not really anticipated budget revenues,” said Prince William County FOIA officer Rob Skoff.

Virginia law allows public bodies like the Dumfries Town Council to charge reasonable fees to recoup the actual costs incurred for duplicating, supplying, or searching for the requested records. However, the law prohibits localities from charging more than what it actually costs to make copies of records.

In May, Rogers slapped Potomac Local News with a $400 fee when it requested to see the salaries of the town’s more than 20 employees, including officers and support staff at the town’s police department. This same information had been presented as line items in the town’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget but was excluded the following year.

“We made the change because, when employees knew how much each other made, it caused tension among our employees,” Dumfries Mayor Derrick Wood told Potomac Local News.

Councilman Charles Brewer told Potomac Local News that he and five other council members asked Rogers multiple times to provide the town council with the current salary information of town employees, presented in the same line item format that was used in 2019. Rogers has not delivered the information, said Brewer, and Rogers has declined to comment on the matter.

Potomac Local News declined to pay the town’s FOIA fee and has yet to receive employee salary records.

Potomac Local News requested the salary information for all employees of the three other towns in Prince Wiliam County. All three — Haymarket, Occoquan, and Quantico — provided salary information of all of its employees to Potomac Local News.

No jurisdiction charged a fee.

Reporter Megan Dietrick contributed to this report.

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Dynamic speed signs have been set up on the E-ZPass Express Lanes on Interstates 95 and 495.

Transurban, the Australian-based transportation company that operates the express lanes, installed the new speed signs for a trial run. Much like traffic radar signs that drivers see along the roadside in neighborhoods, dynamic signs will show how fast a vehicle is going within the express lane.

The posted speed limit will be shown next to the dynamic sign to encourage customers to adjust to that recommended speed in order to ensure their safety.

The trailers that hold the dynamic signs will be placed on the shoulders of the express lanes, also similar in practice to the traffic radar signs.

“As drivers approach the sign, it will display their current speed. The signs aim to give speeding drivers a reminder and encourage them to slow down for the safety of themselves and others on the road. Speeding increases the risk of a crash and crash severity should one occur,” stated Transurban manager Mike McGurk in a press release.

One justification made for this action is due to the coronavirus pandemic. With fewer vehicles on the road due to stay at home orders, some drivers have been speeding up more than they should, Transurban says.

According to data from the Virginia State Police, troopers assigned to the express lanes wrote 1,079 speeding summonses and 994 reckless driving summonses between April 2019 and April 2020.

In April 2019, VSP charged 71 express lanes drivers with reckless driving and 73 for speeding compared to 44 for reckless driving and four for speeding in April 2020.

“Governor Northam’s COVID-19 safety restrictions definitely impacted Virginia’s highways statewide during the month of April, as state police saw significant decreases in traffic volume,” stated VSP’s Public Relations Director Corinne Geller.

The decision for this trial run was ultimately inspired by data that was compiled in a report for the Governor’s Highway Safety Association which found excessive speeding to be a trend that was forming across the U.S.

For example, New York has issued 24,765 speeding tickets which was double the amount issued only a month earlier in spite of the fact that there are fewer vehicles on their roads. In Los Angeles, speeds are up on some roads by 30% which has prompted changes to street and pedestrian lights.

The report also lists instances in states such as Colorado, Indiana, Nebraska, and Utah of police clocking drivers highway speeds at over 100 mph. In states like Florida and Iowa, Highway police have reported drivers going between 20 and 40 miles over the posted speed limits.

While the amount of car crashes has gone down the crashes themselves have become more fatal. In states like Minnesota and Massachusetts, the crash rate is rising and in some cases doubling from the same time last year. Even pedestrian fatalities have been rising in states like Nevada and Rhode Island.

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) is a nonprofit association representing the highway safety offices of states, territories, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. GHSA provides leadership and representation for the states and territories to improve traffic safety, influence national policy, enhance program management, and promote best practices.

Its members are appointed by their governors to administer federal and state highway safety funds and implement state highway safety plans.

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A grand jury has handed down indictments have been handed down in the case of a homicide that occurred at a Denny’s restaurant on Sudley Road near Manassas, in the early morning hours of the day after Christmas in 2019.

The Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office announced it has gone over interviews with victims and witnesses of the shooting that took the life of 56-year-old Yusif Ozgur, a delivery driver who was picking up food from the eatery when he was shot and killed.

Attorneys, in a press release, stated the charges for the suspects, Jordan Lee Anderson, 22, of Manassas, and Ryan Thomas Walker, 23, of Chesapeake Beach, Md.

Anderson / Walker

“On Monday, July 6, 2020, the Grand Jury for the County of Prince William and the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park returned 170 indictments found to be “True Bills” related to offenses that occurred in the early morning hours of December 26, 2019 at the Denny’s restaurant located at 8201 Sudley Road in the County of Prince William.

Following an exhaustive review of the evidence and consultation with the victims, their families and the investigators, Amy Ashworth, the Commonwealth’s Attorney, sought the following indictments from the Grand Jury. These indictments supersede the charges previously brought by the Prince William County Police Department in December 2019.

The indictments encompass the acts perpetrated upon the twenty-three people inside of the Denny’s, one of whom died and one of whom was significantly injured. Ryan Thomas Walker, 23, of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, and Jordan Lee Anderson, 22, of Manassas, Virginia, stand charged with the following:

• One count of First-Degree Murder §18.2-32 (First Degree Murder carries a potential sentence of 20 years to life in prison)
• One count of Attempted Capital Murder §§18.2-31;18.2-26 (Attempted Capital Murder carries a potential sentence of 20 years to life in prison)
• Two counts of Aggravated Malicious Wounding §18.2-51.2 (Aggravated Malicious Wounding carries a potential sentence of 20 years to life in prison)
• One count of Armed Statutory Burglary §18.2-90 (Armed Statutory Burglary carries a potential sentence of 20 years to life in prison)
• 19 counts of Abduction for Pecuniary Benefit §18.2-48 (Abduction for Pecuniary Benefit carries a potential sentence of 20 years to life in prison)
• 12 counts of Robbery §18.2-58 (Robbery carries a potential sentence of 5 years to life in prison)
• 7 counts of Attempted Robbery §§18.2-58;18.2-26 (Attempted Robbery carries a potential sentence of 2 to 10 years in prison)
• 42 counts of Use of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony §18.2-53.1 (Use of a Firearm during the Commission of a Felony carries a potential sentence of 3 years in prison for the first offense and 5 years in prison for each subsequent offense)

 

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Stafford Fire Chief Joseph Cardello slid down the fire pole at the county’s newest fire station.

“The things we do for our kids,” said Cardello before sliding down into the apparatus bay.

Cardello’s young daughter urged him to demonstrate the pole in front of county public officials, staff, and decorated members of the fire and rescue department who came to participate in a long-awaited dedication of the station, located near the intersection of Shelton Shop Road near Garrisonville roads in North Stafford.

About 50 people gathered in the bay on Tuesday, July 9, to dedicate Fire Station 14, which fulfills the growing need for fire suppression and emergency medical services in the northern section of the county. The dedication comes following three major fire incidents in North Stafford in the past week, to include a fire that engulfed a home on Dorothy Lane on the afternoon of July 4.

“I want to thank the other Supervisors who kept this project alive when I was down doing other things in Richmond,” said Garrisonville District Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer, who was a county supervisor at the time the county identified the need for the station in his district, and later served two terms as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates before returning to the Board of Supervisors in 2017.

The 17,500 square-foot firehouse is currently home to three career firefighters, but more are expected to fill up the station’s multiple bunk rooms in the coming years. There are plans to add a battalion chief and an EMS unit to the station.

“This station was built with the future in mind,” added Cardello.

It was also built with safety in mind, as multiple exhaust fans installed in the apparatus bay work to pump exhaust from fire trucks, as well as deadly carcinogens encountered when crews fight fires.

There’s also a locking vestibule at the front entrance of the station where domestic violence victims can take shelter. If the victim alerts 911 that they’re inside the vestibule, dispatchers have the ability to lock the doors remotely, said Acting Station Capt. Sean Seawell, who led officials on a tour of the station.

The station also has a conference room that can be reserved and used by community groups.

The new station replaces an old modular building that was used to house fire crews here since 2012. Last year, crews from the old modular building responded to about 2,700 calls for service. That’s 15% of all fire and rescue calls placed in the county in 2019, said Cardello.

Crews have been running calls from this new station since they took occupancy on Jan. 26, 2020. Fears sparked by the coronavirus pandemic delayed the dedication ceremony.

The station opened nine months behind schedule after major construction delays caused by heavy rain in 2018. The station is one of 13 other stations operated by the county’s fire and rescue department.

Capt. Sean Sean Seawell provides a tour of Stafford County Fire Station 14. [Photo: Uriah Kiser/Potomac Local News]
Stafford County Fire Station 14. [Photo: Uriah Kiser/Potomac Local News]
 

 

 

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