STAFFORD COUNTY — New concrete beams are in place and a concrete bridge deck is ready to be poured.

This past week, crews hoisted into place new concrete that will support a new bridge that will carry the Interstate 95 traffic over Route 17.

This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.

WOODBRIDGE — In an all-or-nothing move, Corey Stewart says he’ll vote against a road bond if fellow Supervisors don’t also support efforts to provide more funding to parks.

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors will meet tomorrow for the first time since May 14. At the 2 p.m. meeting, Supervisors are expected to take up a discussion that has been brewing all spring — whether or not to petition the circuit court to put two bond referenda on the November ballot: a $400 million roads bond and $200 parks bond.

While some Supervisors we’ve spoken to favor borrowing money for roads, they’re not keen on borrowing money for parks to construct, among other projects, an $84 million indoor track and fitness center along Interstate 95 near Woodbridge.

“It would be a shame if this Board wouldn’t put both questions on the ballot to let voters decide. There are 120,000 people living east of I-95 and they don’t have a [public] single indoor sports and recreation facility,” said Stewart.

The closest facilities are in Dale City and Lake Ridge with the Sharon Baucom Dale City Recreation Center and Chinn Aquatics and Fitness Center, respectively.

“That needs to be corrected,” he adds.

In addition to the $84 million indoor track and events center, other park bond projects include an indoor practice facility in the western side of the county, a new indoor aquatics facility in the east, funding to improve the county’s network of trails, something residents told the county’s parks department it wanted more than anything else.

The Board has two scheduled meetings in June before its summer recess, on Tuesday and another on June 25, where the Board was expected to discuss the bond issues.

Stewart, who is Chairman of the Board, said he’ll initiate the discussion at Tuesday’s meeting and could call for a vote on the measure.

“We’ll take a vote on it and vote it up or down,” he said. “If there’s no support for it, I’m not going to hang around for next week.”

Stewart has been a driving force for the road and parks bond. Many of the transportation projects on the list are “legacy” projects, including a $70 million grade-separated interchange at Prince William Parkway and Minnieville Road in Woodbridge.

The Board of County Supervisors will look dramatically different next year. Stewart and Potomac District Supervisor Maureen Caddigan opted not to seek reelection. Incumbents Frank Principi, of the Woodbridge District and Marty Nohe, of the Coles District, both lost in Democratic and Republican Primary Elections, respectively.

Voters will head to the polls on November 5 to decide who will fill the four empty seats. And, if Supervisors agreed to send the bond questions to the voters, they’ll also decide on November 5 whether or not to authorize the county to borrow up to $600 million for parks and roads projects.

“With the new Board that is coming on, this Board will have lost, collectively, 130 years of experience,” said Stewart. “The new Board is going to be a bunch of rookies, and it’s going to take a very long to figure out how to get things done. There won’t be any major road or park bonds for the next 40 years.”

Most of that collective experience was lost when the late Supervisor John D. Jenkins passed away in February, Stewart said.

As we’ve reported, some on the Board fears the passage of the roads and parks bond would require tax increases to pay for the projects. The amount of any such tax increase has yet to be determined.

Others we spoke with say they’re more supportive of roads than parks because there are state and federal matching funds to chase for transportation projects, but none for parks, meaning taxpayers would be on the hook to repay all monies borrowed for recreational facilities and projects.

Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt is a poetry and prose writer who has lived in Prince William County since 1999. She has published six books and is working on a seventh. Learn more about her at KatherineGotthardt.com, and follow her work on Facebook by searching #KatherinesCoffeehouse.

By Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt

There’s a Facebook meme out there that says something like, “For whoever needs to hear this…your laundry needs to be put in the dryer.”

This usually makes me laugh because I’m the last person who needs a reminder. You should see the pile in my family room right now.

That’s enough of a reminder for me. But I do often wonder what people need to hear and when. I know in my own life, I’ve run across an article or a song or a few words that were just what the doctor ordered—words that motivated or inspired me to keep going or to take action, words that helped keep me from feeling blah or numb to the beauty of life, in all its complexities.

The problem is, those words aren’t always around when we need them. The skies don’t always open up the way we’d like and lead us to the rainbow’s end.

I’m not trying to kill the myth of the leprechaun or anything, but if that pot of gold really was there for taking, don’t you think someone would have taken it already? Personally, I’d rather not wait to be hit on the head with the mallet of inspiration.

When I need inspiration, I am motivated to go after it or create it. And that motivates me even more.

Want in? Here are a few ideas to get your head where you want it to be. You don’t necessarily have to do them in public.

1. Sing the first song you ever learned as a child. I mean SING IT. Loudly. (It’s okay to slur through the words you’re not sure about.)
2. Look around you. Note five interesting or attractive objects. Describe them out loud.
3. Sniff the air. What do you smell? Acknowledge it. Out loud.
4. What’s by your right elbow? Touch it. How did it get there? Recite the whole process.
5. What does the inside of your mouth taste like right this moment? Why? Verbally explain it to yourself.

What I just suggested you do is an auditory exercise based on all the five senses: sound, sight, smell, touch, taste, with an emphasis on sound. Here’s why.

We are sensory creatures—except we forget that all the time.

We think we can live in our heads or on our computers. And while that’s true up to a point, if we don’t get back to our basic human components, those rooted in the senses, we lose touch with what it means to be human.

And there’s nothing that will kill motivation and inspiration more than that. Because no matter how much we might be loathed to admit it sometimes, we are indeed human, and humans connect and perceive through the senses.

Now that you understand the concept, focus on what you need to hear. Whether it’s through the car stereo or sounds you make yourself, feed your physical and metaphorical ears with the right stuff. Tired? Listen to something energetic.

Bored? Listen to a TED Talk.

Nervous? Shout out a short speech.

No matter what you choose, make sure it’s something positive, something that will support motivation and inspiration.

Nothing sings so loudly
as the song of self,
the one with the words I learned
before I was even born.
Do you hear what I hear?
I think that might be my mother.
She birthed me with her music,
her low hum caressing my heart,
pushing me gently into a physical world,
reverberating with possibility.
How wonderful it is
to be human.

Until next time,
Katherine

STAFFORD -- Beehives could become common in Stafford County’s suburban neighborhoods.

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted 7-0 to refer to the planning commission the consideration and review of an ordinance outlining changes to the planning and zoning of apiaries.

This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.

WOODBRIDGE — The OmniRide Teen Summer Bus Pass will allow teens to travel around the Prince William County area without relying on their parents for a ride this summer.

The Teen Pass enables those ages 13 through 19 to get unlimited rides on OmniRide Local buses from June 1 to August 31.

Teens can take their bicycles with them on the bus, as each OmniRide local bus has an exterior bike rack.

The summer pass costs $30 if the teen already has a SmarTrip card, otherwise there is an additional $2 fee.

Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission’s one-way local fare is currently $1.55, so a teen who takes more than 10 local round-trips over the summer will save money with a pass.

In addition, teens can use their Summer Bus Pass to get discounted fares when traveling on OmniRide express buses to nearby Metro stations and Washington, D.C, simply by paying the difference between the local and express bus fare.

Passes are on sale now at the OmniRide Transit Center in Woodbridge. For more information about bus routes, schedules, and the Teen Summer Bus Pass, call (703) 730-6664 or visit online.

STAFFORD COUNTY -- Fire crews on Saturday morning battled a porch fire quickly grew into a larger blaze.

Stafford County Fire and Rescue crews were called to a home on Ravenwood Drive, near Enon Road 9:44 a.m. on Saturday, June 15

This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.

By: D.J. Jordan

Father’s Day is one of my favorite days of the year, hands down!

It’s great. Everyone treats me like a King. I can do no wrong. And I can to do one of my favorite things – eat lots of great food! …with my family, of course.

But let’s not let another Father’s Day pass without analyzing how fathers and families are doing in our community.

For the past several years, I have volunteered with the Prince William County Fatherhood Initiative, a program that help dads do what’s in the best interest of their children. Unfortunately, programs like this are needed because we have millions of children in our nation that grow up without engaged fathers.

The statistical impact of fatherlessness is clear: children without an engaged father are four times more likely to live in poverty, two times more likely to drop out of high school, and seven times more likely to become pregnant as a teen. Young people from father-absent homes are 279% more likely to illegally carry guns and deal drugs than peers living with their fathers.

Absent fathers not only have an impact on our individual households, they have an impact on our public safety and public policy. When families and children falter, the government tries to step in to help or fill the need.

This is not a partisan issue. Leaders from all political backgrounds have raised the alarm about this issue. President George W. Bush once said, “Not only are fathers essential to the healthy development of children, they also influence the strength of families and the stability of communities.” President Obama once said, “What makes you a man is not the ability to make a child, it’s the courage to raise one.”

Fellow men, we must step up. It’s a shame that so many mothers are being left to raise and provide for children without assistance from fathers. It doesn’t matter if you’re married to your kids’ mom or not, you have a responsibility not only to your children, but a responsibility to your community to take care of your child.

Last month, I released a set of policy ideas that will help vulnerable children and families in Prince William and Fauquier Counties, as well as Virginians across the Commonwealth. The policy agenda included solutions for fatherlessness, but also other issues impacting families: foster care, human trafficking, poverty, and criminal justice.

Currently, Virginia only has fatherhood programs in a few counties across the Commonwealth. I believe we need to increase investment in them across Virginia. The programs include support groups around topics such as the impact of fatherlessness, healthy co-parenting, conflict resolution, effective discipline, and successful financial management. The men who graduate from these programs become better more confident and engaged dads. Investment in programs like these lead to more stable families, as they deal with root causes of the problem, rather than trying to treat a symptom.

Our nation, state, and local communities are only as strong as our families. It is my hope that our state government isn’t just judged simply by how much money we spend on assistance programs, but rather if these programs actually work to help people escape poverty or vulnerable situations, to reach their full potential for themselves and their families.

DJ Jordan is the Republican candidate running for Virginia House of Delegates District 31 seat in Prince William and Fauquier counties.