Betty Ann Mejia-Fraley, 59, formerly of Dumfries, Virginia, died, Tuesday, September 1, 2015, at her home in Middletown, Virginia.

Mrs. Mejia-Fraley was born in 1955, in Ohio, the daughter of Francisco Mejia and the late Eileen Mejia. She was a graduate of Woodbridge High School, Class of 1973.

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Several southbound lanes on Dumfries Road (Rt. 234) near Village Parkway are currently blocked, following an accident.

According to Prince William police, a vehicle struck a light pole, and the pole fell, blocking the roadway.

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Jewell Technical Consulting will expand its market territory to include Fredericksburg and Richmond.

A Manassas, Virginia-based company, JTC, is the official IT provider of the Prince William Chamber of Commerce, and has long concentrated on the Northern Virginia market. The expansion marks the first time JTC has expanded into a new regional market.

Charles Sowers will lead the expansion and concentrate on growing the business in the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Stafford areas in Central Virginia. Sowers will manage technical sales for JTC in these markets.

“I met Charles in 1995 when we were working on a project for Capital One Bank,” said JTC, Inc. President John Jewell. “We moved the bank from a Macintosh network and put it on a Windows network.”

JTC will market solutions to new customers in the medical and legal fields. The company will offer a wide range of solutions to include managed services of electronic medical records systems, disaster recovery, private cloud services, and IP telephone services.

“JTC Cloud is a private server. Unlike being on a Google, Amazon, or Rackspace server, we own the equipment, and our customers data is stored in a data center right here in Manassas,” said Jewell.

A large number of hospitals along the Interstate 95 corridor, and ancillary medical facilities that surround them made the area attractive to JTC. The expansion has been in the works for about a year, added Jewell.

JTC is a Microsoft Certified Partner and a Dell Certified Partner.

Prince William County firefighter Kyle Wilson dedicated his life to community service by becoming a Prince William County firefighter when he was just 23 years old. 

It was a commitment that ended his life a year later as he searched a smoke and flames for the residents of a burning home in Woodbridge.

Wilson became the first Prince William County career firefighter to die in the line of duty. But his pledge to the community did not die.

His friends, family and the entire community are carrying on his passions for community service and education this weekend through the Kyle Wilson Softball Tournament and Kyle Wilson Endowed Scholarship in honor of the George Mason University alumnus.

The fifth annual softball tournament, Sept. 5 and 6, 2015, will be held at Valley View Sports Complex 11930 Valley View Drive in Nokesville. The park has five softball fields and aims to field 30 teams.

“If you want an old-fashioned Labor Day full of food, fun, and Adult Softball, drive over to Nokesville,” said Cherish Green, tournament coordinator.

Green there will also be plenty of raffles going on throughout the day from products donated from the business community. Green, whose husband is also a Prince William County firefighter, said the annual event has grown every year, as the community gathers to honor a home-grown hero.

“This has been a 5-year labor of love by Kyle’s friends, family, and members of the community to show our love and appreciation for this selfless young man,” said Green.

The tournament is one of three annual events that funds the Kyle Wilson Endowed Scholarship in George Mason University’s School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism. The scholarship is awarded annually to an undergraduate student who exhibits Wilson’s leadership, values, academic achievement, and passion for physical fitness and who has been admitted to the professional phase of the Athletic Training Education program.

Wilson graduated from George Mason University in 2005 with a BS in Athletic Training. Wilson died in 2006 when conditions suddenly worsened as he conducted a room-to-room search of a Woodbridge home.

All seven residents of the burning home escaped unharmed.

To donate to the scholarship, please make a tax deductible donation online at supportingmason.gmu.edu (write in “Kyle Wilson Scholarship” under “Other Established Fund”) or send your gift to: Kyle Wilson Memorial Scholarship George Mason University Foundation 4400 University Drive, MS 1A3 Fairfax, Va. 22030

Dr Alex Na, cardiovascular surgeon at Mary Washington Healthcare, talks about how patients benefit with minimally invasive heart surgery.

“They have less pain, and they have less wound-healing problems, they have less bleeding complications, and they less pulmonary complications,” said Na.

Mary Washington’s comprehensive heart center offers surgical excellence and advanced treatment options close to home and family.

“If you look at those complex cases, our outcomes are as good or better than most of the big institutions,” said Na.

While caring for each patient with dignity and compassion, our heart center continues to advance.

“The hospital is committed to bringing in the new technologies and keeping our cardiac surgery program as state of the art as possible. We’re doing all these things because it’s better care for the patients.”

Mary Washington Healthcare. Here for you. Always.

Two individuals were charged this week, in separate incidents, for assaulting and impersonating Prince William police.

Prince William police officer attacked at Dumfries Walmart

One incident took place in the afternoon of August 29 at an apartment on Harwood Oaks Court in Dumfries, when Prince William police were called for a burglary.

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Eleven-year-old Edwin Martinez had been looking forward to the Georgetown South Family Day event on Saturday, August 22, but said the day turned out to be even better than expected.

Standing in line for the Wild Rapids inflatable water slide with a half-dozen friends, Edwin said the community’s pavilion area was like a party with lots of different ways to enjoy the day.

“I give it an A+,” he said of the event, which was hosted by Chapel Springs Assembly of God in partnership with Iglesia Vida.

Chapel Springs has hosted Family Day at Georgetown South since 2011 as a way to show the love of Jesus Christ to the community. This year’s free event featured the extremely popular Wild Rapids slide, two inflatable bounce houses and face painting along with hot dogs and “sno cones.”

Family Day is the culmination of a week-long day camp for children in Kindergarten through 5th grade and gives church members a chance to connect with the families of those children, said Pastor Doug Dreesen. It’s also an opportunity to inform residents about the weekly English as a Second Language (ESL) classes hosted by Chapel Springs at the Georgetown South Community Center.

“Our goal is to come and help transform the community, really, for Christ. We want to tell them Jesus loves them, and we’re here to be His hands and feet,” Dreesen said, adding that Chapel Springs is building a long-term relationship with Georgetown South.

Susana Ladino has lived in Georgetown South for three years, and stopped at the pavilion with her 6-year-old after they saw a group of children running toward the event.

“It’s beautiful. It looks very organized,” Ladino said through an interpreter.

Laura Leon also attended with her children. Leon has lived in the community for 11 years and has attended Family Day in the past. Through an interpreter, she said she was happy to enjoy a meal while her children played.

Sitting at a picnic table in the shade while children were enjoying activities nearby, Chapel Springs member Libny Fierro opened a Spanish Bible and led those seated around her to take turns reading from the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians has wonderful instruction about how we should live everyday– things like watching what we say and wearing the “armor of God” – and that was thought-provoking for those at the picnic table, Fierro said.

Fierro and her new friend Norma Arriaga handed out nine Spanish Bibles before the event was over. Having Bibles in Spanish was wonderful, Arriaga said, because while an English Bible is fine for the younger generation, she prefers to read in Spanish.

Asked what she learned from her discussion with Fierro and others at the picnic table, Arriaga had a quick reply: “God has a purpose for us and we need to follow His example,” she said through an interpreter.

Many church-goers focus on who they know and what people are wearing instead of spiritual matters, so reading and discussing the book of Ephesians was eye-opening, Arriaga added.

Ed and Miriam Bosch attend Chapel Springs and are preparing to become missionaries to Ecuador. They both participated in the day camp and were on hand for Family Day to celebrate a successful week.

“It’s been an awesome experience,” Ed Bosch said.

Chapel Springs member Denise Propps also volunteered to help at the day camp. She said it was important to her to attend Family Day and meet the families of the children she saw all week, noting that one child ran up and hugged her and said she had been looking specifically for her.

“It’s all about building relationships with the community,” Propps said. “We were made for relationships. We were made to love one another.”

And by building relationships, when someone has a need, we can pray for them as someone who knows them and cares for them, she added.

“I love it. It’s really what He’s called us to do,” Propps said.

-Written by Christine Rodrigo

The Dumfries Fall Festival could be moved to the town's only school.

The annual festival will start at 11 a.m. October 17. Organizers propose moving the festival from its usual location at  Garrison Park behind Town Hall to nearby Dumfries Elementary School on Cameron Street.

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