By URIAH KISER

WOODBRIDGE, Va. – There were victims in a fire that ripped through a Woodbridge apartment complex Monday night, but officials didn’t immediately treat any of them.

The blaze broke out about 9:10 p.m. on Gemstone Way off U.S. 1 in Woodbridge. With flames bursting from windows and from the rooftop, neighbors said they helped many victims to safety.

Apartment complex residents William Lopez, Jorge Ranchos, and Bradley Runyon, said they helped two men and two women who became trapped on the burning building’s second floor.

“I was taking out the trash and then I turned around and saw flames everywhere, so I went back to my house and told everyone to get out, and then I started helping the people who were trapped upstairs,” said Ranchos.

Others became trapped inside by flames and jumped from windows, where Lopez was waiting to catch them, neighbors said.

“It was craziness everywhere. I just opened my arms and told them to jump,” he said, as he described some people with burns and others who suffered injuries from the fall.

Once out of the burning building, the fire victims seemed to disappear. Fire officials on the scene said no one came forward for help, EMS crews were not able to identify any victims on their own, and no one was transported to a hospital.

One firefighter suffered a minor injury with a burn to his hand but is expected to recover, said OWL Volunteer Fire Department spokeswoman Rebecca Barnes.

A total of 43 adults and 13 children were displaced in the fire, and the Red Cross was called to offer assistance to these families. We don’t know yet how many units are affected by the fire.

The blaze appears to have affected most of one of the two buildings that make up the Gemstone Way apartment complex. Fire crews were able to quickly douse the flames, and worked into the night putting out hot spots that flared up.

Windows were missing from many of the units, and fire officials were unable to determine early on just how many units are affected by the blaze and how many people are displaced.

Residents who live in the affected building told PotomacLocal.com fire broke out in the same building in two years ago.

UPDATE

Speed could have been a factor in the crash that killed 70-year-old Gregory Allen Hurst of Fredericksburg.

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WOODBRIDGE, Va. -- Prince William County officials are expected to name Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center as the top contender for a new Potomac Nationals baseball stadium.

The county’s Board of Supervisors will hold a press conference at the developing retail, office, and residential center near Dale Boulevard and Interstate 95 at 10 a.m. Tuesday to announce a new public-private partnership.

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DUMFRIES, Va. — Four new student interns will spend their summer learning about the inner workings of local government.

Matthey Critchley, 15, Carson Hill, 15, and Isaiah Claggett, 16, and Fernando Ruiz, 17, were selected for the Dumfries Summer Youth Employment Program. All three interns live in Dumfries and began their work session last week at a meeting of the Town Council where they were introduced.

The interns will work a 15-hour work week and will be paid $8 per hour for six weeks. All in high school, the students were selected after they filled out an application and submitted a 500-word essay.

Clagget’s grandmother, Bertha Johnson, said this will be invaluable experience for her son who will graduate from high school next year.

“This is going to allow him to put some things down on his resume,” she said.

All four interns said there were exited to begin work on a productive summer, and said they were even more exited about receiving a paycheck for their work.

STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. -- A former member of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors passed away this weekend.

Lloyd Chittum, 74, died Sunday from a heart attack following complications from a surgery he underwent last week.

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By URIAH KISER

OCCOQUAN, Va. — A retired educator and administrator with 35 years experience at Prince William County Public Schools will make a run for the School Board.

Lillie Jessie, of Lake Ridge, will run as a Democrat to represent the School Board’s Occoquan District — one of eight seats on the countywide Board. She will face Michael E. Wooten, who was appointed to the Board this spring following the sudden resignation of Grant Lattin in May.

Working now as an educational consultant and small business owner, Jessie retired from Prince William schools as Principal of Elizabeth Vaughn Elementary School in Woodbridge. During her tenure with the school system, she focused her work on the U.S. Department of Education’s Title I program that works to ensure fair access to higher education.

“Middle-class kids, my kids, I know are going to go to college. But some children don’t have that chance,” said Jessie.

Candidate Jessie appeared publicly for the first time Sunday night at Occoquan Town Hall. There she noted Prince William’s public schools as some as the best in the nation.

If elected in November, she said she’d do more to educate parents on the inner workings of schools, show them what educational options are available to their children.

She also said students need fewer multiple choice test and more exams that require critical thinking.

“I’m sticking with Prince William County School’s ‘World Class’ motto, and if our schools are world class you’ve got to make them teach students to be competitive in a world market,” said Jessie.

A product of a segregated school system in Newberry, S.C., Jessie was the first in her family, and was one of only a handful in her graduating class to go to college, she said. She credits the encouragement of a teacher, and his help filling out college applications, as the reason she continued her education beyond high school.

Jessie also has ties to Virginia Tech, and she developed a program called “Kindergarten to College” where fifth grade students at Vaughn Elementary School traveled to the Blacksburg school annually.

Wooten, her opponent, served as Marine Corps officer, holds a Doctorate of Higher Education Management, and serves as Vice Chairman of the Board at Northern Virginia Community College.

Jessie said her experience will make all the difference in this race.

“[Wooten] has a degree in education. I have a background in education, and my experience is documented,” she said.

By SGT. REBEKKA HEITE
Quantico Sentry

QUANTICO, Va. – Boots to Business, an entrepreneurship training pilot program, officially began this week.

Boots to Business which will also be piloted at three other locations — Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif. – is expected to reach 20,000 transitioning Marines during its yearlong pilot phase.

Leadership in the Marine Corps, in the Small Business Administration and from the U.S. president are all focused on veterans having the tools they need to start their own business, said Karen Mills, administrator of the SBA and a member of the president’s Cabinet.

The commandant of the Marine Corps’s 35th Planning Guidance directed an assessment of the Transition Assistance Management Program and a revamped approach to meet the needs of departing and retiring Marines, said Brig. Gen. Robert F. Hedelund, Marine and Family Programs director.

The new program, Transition Readiness Seminar, was implemented on all Marine Corps installations in March 2012. Now, the five-day seminar will include a video introducing Boots to Business.

After completing TRS, Marines will have the option to choose additional, more focused training in one of three military to civilian pathways: Technical Training, Higher Education or Boots to Business.

The Boots to Business pilot includes the introductory video, which all transitioning Marines on the four bases will see, followed by a 90-minute face-to-face class delivered to those who are interested. After the class the Marines will have the opportunity to continue their training with an 8-week online course.

While 20,000 Marines are expected to see the introductory video, only 20 percent or 4,000 Marines are expected to go to the face-to-face class. Forty percent of those, or 1,600, are expected to go through the online course, said Walter Lavrinovich, head of Plans and Operations , Personal and Professional Development Branch. 

Marine spouses are also eligible to attend all Boots to Business instruction.

It’s so good to see so many familiar and new faces on my LinkedIn account. Why, you’re all there – from people I used to work with, people I’ve met while on the job, and many faces I am looking forward to meeting.

I’ve had my LinkedIn account for about three years and, I’ll admit, I’ve neglected it. But now that I know some great connections are on LinkedIn (and on my Facebook, Twitter, and my friends who appear to work at Google and have Google Plus accounts) what's the best way to communicate with them?

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 REDEVELOPING STAFFORD’S COURTHOUSE AREA 

By URIAH KISER

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NORTH STAFFORD, Va. -- School officials will hear from residents about a plan to close an elementary school that sits along one of the busiest roads in Stafford County.

The 40-year-old Anne E. Moncure Elementary School in North Stafford’s Garrisonville District sits on valuable property on Va. 610. Surrounding the school building is a shopping district, homes, and an expanding commuter parking lot.

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