Opinion

Well, the campaign season for the General Assembly Election in November is upon us. This will be increasingly evident as we endure a parade of negative attacks and falsehoods that will emerge in the weeks and months ahead. I wish it wasn’t so. People—voters—deserve the truth, not false and misleading rhetoric. That is why I am personally responding to the article penned by Jane Touchet, chairman of the Democratic Women of Lake Ridge, attacking me in support of my challenger, Sara Townsend.

Ms. Touchet, a partisan Democrat who doesn’t reside in the district that I serve, says “Mr. Lingamfelter has proven again and again that he is no friend of public education”. Really? Let’s review the facts.


Opinion

Almost every elected official and candidate on the ballot this November will acknowledge crowding as a significant issue in Prince William County Schools.

While the School Board and Board of County Supervisors have made limited headway on this issue in recent years, it seems we continue to work around the edges of this problem. Until we have a plan with budget implications, we cannot have an open and honest debate about class size reduction.


Good morning – Summer vacation tends to tax our area food pantries so as you shop for your groceries this week please pick up a few extra things for families in need as both the SERVE Pantry and the Salvation Army Pantry have an urgent need for basics including canned beans, canned vegetables, canned meat, cereals, pasta and other dry goods. In Manassas please drop off food donations to the SERVE Pantry at 10056 Dean Drive or in Woodbridge at the Salvation Army Pantry at 1483 Old Bridge Road, Suite 102. Please help these wonderful organizations continue to support families in need.

· The SPARK Education Foundation is collecting school supplies for needy kids at the Kelly Leadership Center at 14715 Bristow Road during the week from 8am-4pm. Items needed include backpacks, 3-ring binders, dividers, folders with pockets, spiral notebooks, loose leaf paper, colored pencils, ink pens, No 2 pencils, crayons, highlighters, glue sticks, index paper and other similar items appropriate for little people.


News

There are some problems with Prince William’s new $16.4 million police, and fire and rescue emergency response system.

Motorola’s PremierOne system was installed in June. Since then, rescue crews have logged several problems with the system’s GPS service, and firefighters have had problems reading system text alerts.