Supervisor Pete Candland would like to invite local children to participate in the First Annual Gainesville District Youth Art Contest. The contest is open to all children in Kindergarten through 5th Grade. Entries will be accepted in any medium, painting, drawing, sculpture, etc. The contest theme for the artwork is Summer Vacation.
Winners will be announced during an awards ceremony on June 8, 2016, at 6 PM at the Haymarket Gainesville Community Library. All entries will be displayed through the month of June at the library. Winners will receive a gift card and have their artwork displayed in Supervisor Candland’s office until June 2017.
Artwork should be submitted to Supervisor Candland’s office (7001 Heritage Village Plaza, Suite 210, Gainesville, VA 20155) by 6 PM on June 6, 2016.
Jirani Coffeehouse recently celebrated their Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting in Manassas.
Located at 9425 West Street in the Manassas Historic District, Jirani’s proprietors, Ken and Detra Moorman are excited for the local community to see the place that they envision as much more than just a space for coffee and conversation.
Jirani is the Swahili word for neighbor or neighborhood – Ken and Detra hope it will become a neighborhood hub and a center for arts and culture. They started Jirani Coffeehouse with the mission of bringing people of all ages and interests together in a “third space” – that welcoming atmosphere that you love to frequent outside of home and work.
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Charles Harold Rattmann, Jr., 70, made his journey Home on May 13, 2016. He was a 25-year retiree from IBM that worked his way up from logistics tech to Support Engineer during his career. He loved computers, the ocean and especially people. Chuck volunteered for ACTS suicide prevention hotline prior to joining and Chairing the Loudoun Nursing and Rehab Center’s member council in the last years of his life. He is survived by his wife, Irma Craft-Rattmann, son, Andrew David Rattmann, stepson Maurice Reginald Craft and daughters Amy Giles, Kelly Giles, Terry Coon, Cynthia Moore and 6 grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on Friday, May 20th at 2pm at Loudoun Funeral Chapel, 158 Catoctin Circle SE, Leesburg, Virginia. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to ACTS of Woodbridge; https://actspwc.org/.
The Manassas and Manassas Park Cities Democratic Committee (MMPCDC) has scheduled assembled caucuses to nominate Democratic candidates for Manassas and Manassas Park races in the November 8, 2016 General Election.
Specifically, the MMPCDC seeks to nominate Democratic candidates for mayor and city council in each city and for Manassas City treasurer (subject to a special election for that office being placed on the November 8 ballot). In each city, three city council seats and one mayoral seat are up for election this November.
Candidates who seek the Democratic Party nomination for any of those offices must submit a completed Declaration of Candidacy form and a $250 filing fee to the MMPCDC by Friday, May 27 at 5 pm. Complete details--including the Call to Caucus, the Declaration of Candidacy form, and the Caucus Rules-are posted on the MMPCDC website, manassascitydemocrats.com.
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A Saturday brought out 225 volunteers to go out on boats and along the shore of the Occoquan River to pick up trash at four designated parks, marinas, and the Town of Occoquan.
Because of their efforts, the Occoquan River was relieved of 1.6 tons of waste, including 20 bags of recyclables, six tires, snowboards, baby carriage, trashcans, oil barrel, gasoline cans, carpet foam pieces, blinds, rusted iron pieces and miscellaneous items.
Many volunteers helped with the cleanup, including parents who brought their children, and groups such as SEV1 Tech, American Water Company, the Bull Run Rotary, the Optimist Club, the Quantico Yacht Club, Boy Scout Troop 1369, environmental studies students from George Mason University, students from Hylton and Osborn Park high, and students from Benton Middle School schools in Prince William County, and students from Osbourn High School in Manassas.
Other volunteers included and Trash Trek from Penn Elementary School, and the JROTC cadets from Forest Park High and Woodbridge senior high schools in Prince William County.
Duane DeBruyne and the Lake Braddock Crew provided a boat while Jim Martin, Cal Lud and Priit Vesilind provided a pontoon boat, and Penguin Paddle provided kayaks.
Helga Perrin demonstrated an environmental display on conservation and stewardship of the environment and the importance of wetlands at the Lake Ridge Marina. Kimm Barry, Kirstyn Barr Jovanovich, Sonia Monson, Linda Murray and Alex & Renate Vanegas, including Cathy Tarr and Beverly Proctor manned the sign-in stations at the four marinas and the Town of Occoquan, and the various park managers provided boats, their time and the disposal of the collected trash.
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Jennifer Lynn Kidd, age 42 of Stafford, VA passed away on April 11, 2016 at Stafford Hospital from complications after a long battle with Lupus.
Jennifer was born in Fairfax, VA on October 27, 1973 to Margaret Ann Kidd and Coleman Wayne Kidd. She spent her childhood in the Beacon Hill area of Alexandria, VA.
Jennifer enjoyed going to Maine for a few weeks during the summer and spending time with her Mom, brother and maternal grandparents at their summer home on South Twin Lake in Millinocket.
For the rest of the summer, Jennifer and her brother David treasured spending time with their paternal grandparents outside of Charlottesville. She especially enjoyed swimming in the river and playing with all of her cousins.
Jennifer was diagnosed with Lupus at the age of 13 and spent many years in and out of Children’s Hospital in Washington D.C. Her illness kept her out of school quite a bit, but that did not stop Jennifer from graduating from West Potomac High School in Alexandria, VA in 1992.
She went on to attend Washington Business School. Jennifer was always a hard worker and spent her entire life working with the public in customer service roles. She was such a people person and really enjoyed interacting with them.
Jennifer held many jobs since high school including working for the government as a secretary, and as a customer service representative at both Metrocall Paging in Alexandria, VA and Charlie and Son’s in Woodbridge, VA. Although Jennifer never married, she spent most of her adult years living in Triangle, VA with the love of her life, Steve Hagenson, until Steve passed away unexpectedly in October 2011.
Due to Jennifer’s Lupus, Jennifer was never able to have children of her own, but she loved spending time with her niece and nephew and called them “her babies.” She later moved to Stafford, VA where she lived with her dear friend Verna Wallizer and her family.
Jennifer cherished the time that she was able to spend with her family, and spent every holiday and special event with her Mom, and her brother David and his family. Jennifer was young at heart and always had a smile on her face. Jennifer was such a kind soul, with a positive spirit and always an exceptional listener.
She was a true friend and would go out of her way to help anyone in need. No matter how tough things were for her, she was always able to put a smile on anyone’s face. Jennifer is survived by her loving mother Margaret Kidd, and her brother David Kidd and sister-in-law Amber Kidd, her niece Madison Kidd and her nephew Darren Kidd all of Gainesville, VA.
She is also survived by her aunts Shirley Abel (Andy) of Nelson County, VA and Sue Kidd of Lovingston, VA, and great uncle Paul Gonya of Gorham, ME, and many cousins in Nelson County, VA. Jennifer also had many life-long friends and co-workers that she considered family.
She is preceded in death by her father, Coleman Kidd of Fredericksburg, VA, and grandmother, Grace Bufford and grandfather Thomas Bufford of Nelson County, VA and grandfather Cecil Max Hatfield and grandmother Mary Elizabeth Hatfield of Millinocket, ME.
A viewing will be held on Saturday, April 23, 2016 from 1-2pm, followed by a reception at Baker-Post Funeral Home & Cremation Center located at 10001 Nokesville Road, Manassas, VA 20110. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. on-line at https://giving.childrensnational.org/site/Donation.
Students from various colleges and universities across the county gathered on the Woodbridge Campus of Northern Virginia Community College to participate in a hackathon event organized by five NOVA cybersecurity and information technology students. The event was held at the Regional Center for Workforce Education and Training (RCWET) on April 8-10.
"inNOVAtion," a 36 hour long hackathon competition offered hands-on experience to students interested in cybersecurity and secure coding methods. Participants came prepared for the weekend with sleeping bags and overnight items, eager to work in teams to “hack” several challenges provided by corporate sponsors True IA, General Dynamics, University of Maryland University College, Rapid Cycles Solutions, (ISC)² and RPI Group. The challenges involved creating apps and successfully programming data for first-, second-and third-place teams to win an iPod Shuffle, Galaxy Tablet, Playstation 4 and a host of gift cards and certificates.
Thomas Mitchell, NOVA-Woodbridge student and president of the inNOVAtion hackathon team initiated the idea to host the event after he attended a hackathon at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Mitchell, along with NOVA students Chris Dabo, Rizvan Rashik, Zach Wood and Ibrar Tariq, shared their plans with NOVA-Woodbridge faculty Dr. Evette Davis, dean of business and social sciences and Dr. Paula Ford, assistant dean of information technology to help bring their vision into reality.Â
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The Manassas & Manassas Park Cities Democratic Committee (MMPCDC) will host its Blue Victory Breakfast, an annual fundraising event, on Saturday, April 23, 2016 from 8:30-11 a.m., at the new City Tavern, located at 9550 Center Street, Manassas.
The doors will open at 8:30 a.m., and the program will begin promptly at 9 a.m. The Blue Victory Breakfast celebrates MMPCDC’s outstanding volunteer leaders and elected officials, while raising the funds needed to help support its slates of Democratic candidates in the November General Election.
Enjoy a buffet breakfast that includes coffee, tea, juice, fruit, eggs, sausage/bacon, and a waffle station and the fellowship of your Democratic friends and neighbors. Several elected officials and 2016 election candidates are scheduled to attend and speak, including State Senator Jeremy McPike and LuAnn Bennett, Democratic candidate for Congress (VA-10th).
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House of Mercy nonprofit organization will be teaming up with MurLarkey Distilled Spirits to hold a fundraiser for the less fortunate.Â
Jim Larkin, General Manager of the distillery, states he is happy to help the agency that serves hundreds of people in local neighborhoods. The event is on Saturday April 23, from 6-8pm at the distillery.
 “We’re on-board to help provide food for the hungry. This will be a fun event for a great cause, and we’re pleased to be hosting it,” said Larkin.
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The Manassas and Manassas Park Cities Democratic Committee (MMPCDC) has scheduled assembled caucuses on Monday, April 18, at 7:30 pm to elect delegates and alternates from both cities to the Virginia 10th Congressional District and State Democratic Party Conventions. Caucus participation--including eligiblity to run for election as a delegate or alternate--is open to all registered voters in the respective cities of Manassas and Manassas Park who sign a standard Democratic declaration form.
The caucuses are scheduled to assemble on April 18 at the Manassas Park Police Station, 329 Manassas Dr, in the 1st floor conference room. The doors will open at 7:00 pm for check in and close at 7:30 pm.
Those who wish to participate in the voting must arrive before 7:30 pm. The caucuses will elect a total of 12 state delegates and three alternates who will attend the 10th Congressional District Democratic Convention in Sterling on May 14 and the State Democratic Convention in Richmond on June 18. National delegates to the Democratic National Convention will be elected at both of those conventions.
