Every photo has a story.

As a reporter for many years, I’ve worked a lot of crash scenes, house fires, and homicide investigations. Never once was I stopped by a police officer and asked for my license and registration.

There’s a first time for everything, they say. Who knew it would be the assignment where I’m taking a photo of a Ferris Wheel?

It was just before 1 p.m. Friday when I was driving along Route 1 and saw a carnival rides erected in a parking lot across from Our Lady Angels church. I pulled into the parking lot to take a photo of the wheel with my camera phone. A police car was sitting in the parking lot.

After pulling in, I stopped my car, rolled down my driver’s side window, stuck my cell phone out the window, and took this photo: Read More

When I travel to a new city, the first thing I do is listen to the radio stations. I’ve probably heard nearly every song before, but the commercials are all new to me.

When I check in to my hotel, after marveling at the view (if I’m lucky enough to have a view), I turn on the local TV station. If I can find one, I grab a local newspaper.

These have always been tried and true sources of local information. I scan their local news and read the ads.

The local ads, just like the news, tell me what’s going on in a community. They serve as informative content that, at a glance, tells me about fun things happening in the area.

Most times I’ll see or hear an ad for an event, and then pack up friends and family in the car and drive over to that event feeling as if I’ve got some kind of insider information just because I saw the ad or read a promoted post on a blog.

I don’t know why I’m this way. Maybe it’s because I’m a media guy. Maybe it’s because I like to explore the community and try new things.

I do the same in my own community. I’m always scanning and searching for things to do right here in Prince William and Stafford counties. That’s why I’ll never understand when people say “I never read the ads.”

I get that some, if not most advertising is disruptive. TV ads that interrupt your favorite show, or pop-ups on your computer screen that try to sell you online poker chips. Read More

When it comes to parking in the city, a Seinfeld episode comes to mind.

You know the one where George Costanza gets into an argument with another driver over a parking space on the street.

I’ve always remembered this particular exchange between the characters:

Elaine: Oh, you’re never gonna find a space on Jerry’s block, just put it in a garage.

George: Look, I have my system. First I look for the dream spot right in front of the door, then I slowly expand out in concentric circles.

Elaine: Oh come on, George, please put it in a garage. I don’t want to spend an hour looking for a space.

George: I can’t park in a garage.

Elaine: Why?

George: I don’t know, I just can’t. Nobody in my family can pay for parking, it’s a sickness. My father never paid for parking; my mother, my brother, nobody. We can’t do it.

Last week, however, I did want to pay for parking. My wife and I had tickets to see “Bobs Burgers Live” at the Warner theater in Washington, D.C. It was a Wednesday night, I drove us both into the city after work, and we wanted the easiest, most uneventful evening leading up to our show.

Earlier, I went to Google and typed in “Warner theaterParking” and saw a host of results appear on the page. I clicked on one of them, and I saw the “Bobs Burgers Live” logo.

“Hey, that’s the show we’re going to tonight,” I said.

It was like the website knew exactly what I was looking for — parking for the Bobs Burgers show. I was intrigued, and I clicked on.

The site’s name was Parking Panda. It showed me several garages within a three to four block radius of the Warner Theater, and it also showed how much it would cost to park there – between $11 and $23. Some garages offered valet though my wife and I are not fans of valet. Read More

We have a pickle hanging on our Christmas Tree at home.

My wife hangs the green glass ornament on our tree each year. It's made of the same material a traditional ball ornament is made of. 

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

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is “how much does it cost to subscribe to your online newspaper?”

Most of those who ask this question are residents of our community, and business owners who are learning about Potomac Local for the first time. My reply is always the same.

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

QUANTICO, Va. — A live band playing the music in an open park is one of the definite sounds of summertime.

Country Singer Tyler Toliver kicked off the Cowles Auto 2014 Salute to Our Troops Music Series in Raftelis Potomac River Park located at 408 River Road in Quantico on Saturday. More than 150 people  packed the park with blankets and chairs to hear Toliver and his band.

In the park, there were barbecue and ice cream vendors, and a beer garden was set up for all ages around the live music stage.

The music stopped just before 9 p.m. and Quantico Mayor Kevin Brown took the stage and welcomed everyone. With the Quantico Honor Guard behind him,he thanked everyone for coming to the park for the music and what appears to be a new Memorial Day tradition in the town — a spectacular fire works show made possible by Quantico Tactical.

For at least 20 minutes, fireworks were lunched over Hospital Point and they illuminated the sky. Some of them exploded bright white with embers that trickled back down to earth to resemble a weeping willow tree, while others were bursting with color.

As I sat on the ground with my wife next to the Potomac River, our heads tilted toward the sky, the sound of small children oohing and ahhing over the light show was made our experience worth the trip. And, let’s face it, what could be more patriotic than our community coming together to honor our military with a fireworks show at the crossroads of the Marine Corps?

I’ve have never seen so many visitors in the Town of Quantico as I did Saturday night. Many families were strolling Potomac Avenue with their children out enjoying an evening of warm spring weather, puffy clouds, and a light river breeze. Stores were open and people were sitting at sidewalk tables eating and drinking.

In the newly improved Reftelis park, new paved walking paths invite people to come play near the river shore. It was a great place to hold an event like this.

For so many in our area, for so long, the tradition has been to get out of town on Memorial Day weekend. In recent years, the Rolling Thunder rally that attracts thousands of bikers to the region has become a local tradition.

Now, thanks to the work of those who put on this community celebration in Quantico, we can now add fireworks on the Potomac River to that growing list of local Memorial Day weekend traditions.

Corey Stewart turned to the press this week to get residents riled up about the need for more police on the streets.

The At-large Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors’ rare press conference on Tuesday drew not only me to the table, but reporters from other online news websites and newspapers that cover the county, as well as a TV reporter from Washington, D.C.

It’s budget season residents want their tax money spent on certain things, such as libraries, parks, and schools. Stewart thinks more money should go to fund the police department and wants to revert back to a plan that predates recession of 2008 tax cuts that calls for hiring 25 new police officers each year.

“One of the reasons for me doing this press conference is to get the citizens engaged,” said Stewart. “It’s the citizenry that is the eyes and ears of the police department.”

Stewart said he approves of the job Chief Stephan Hudson is doing since taking the reigns of the force last year. But he could do better if his department had more funding, he added.

And, while I’m sure he’s right, let’s not forget the crime rate remains low in Prince William County. There were 17.04 crimes reported per every 1,000 people in the county in 2012, down from a 15-year high of 30.3 in 1998.

The rate of violent crime in 2012 – murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults – went up 9% in 2012. But it was really more like 5% because many of the violent crimes that were reported to police that year occurred during prior years.

Statistics show unequivocally that the rate of crime in Prince William County has fallen while its population has ballooned. For that we can thank a highly visible police force that has made it their mission to work with the community to curb crime, to involve them as much as possible during investigations, and to not withhold information about how they operate from residents or the press.

Stewart says his office has fielded more phone calls about crime and about what county officials are doing to curb it since the beginning of the year. Incidents like the murder of 21-year-old Glenda Marisol Coca-Romero who was shot and killed while working in a corner grocer in Woodbridge sparked the majority of those calls.

More police officers could also mean less funding for other things like schools, parks, and libraries, things Stewart says he’s for. But hereminded residents they can’t have everything without a price.

“Citizens also want us to keep their tax bills low, and one thing I’m not going to say is we can do all of those things and keep tax bills flat.”

Uriah Kiser is the publisher of Potomac Local News.

Publisher’s note: Peter Candland invited me to a cafe and offered his take on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors and the upcoming budget season. He ordered a soda and I had coffee. Here’s a bit of our conversation.

In recent weeks, Peter Candland has lost more than he’s won – but that hasn’t kept him from trying to change what he calls a “good ol’ boy” system in Prince William County politics.

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

First we brought independent local news to Prince William and Stafford counties. And now we’ve launched the region’s most powerful locally-maintained and insightful real estate tool.

Prominently featured at in the top main navigation section of our website, the Potomac Local Real Estate section features listings for home sales and rentals, commercial properties, land, as well as market trends and statistics for Prince William and Stafford counties and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.

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

Opinion

It’s been a brutal year on Interstate 95 in Northern Virginia. Yes, more so than in years past, the delays seemed to rack up on the highway that bridges the gap not only Prince William and Stafford counties but to many jobs many of us commute to in Arlington and Washington, D.C.

For nearly all of us, the highway and its delays are something we’ve become very familiar with.

The Virginia Department of Transportation told us congestion on I-95 would get worse this year, especially during the summer of 2013 when work on the 95 Express Lanes would kick into high gear.

Now in winter and heading into 2014, we can see pavement that has been laid on the new lanes that, when the open in early 2015, will bring an extension of the HOV lanes from Dumfries to Va. 610 in North Stafford. The entire facility will between North Stafford and Esdall Road in Alexandria, and will allow single drivers to pay an electronic toll to use the lanes or occupants in vehicles of three or more to ride free.

And, while that all sounds well and good, it will be even better when the lanes finally open and work-related delays for the Express Lanes project a thing of the past. Even during the holidays, I-95 in our area has been plagued by delays morning, midday, and night as work zones are set up, closing lanes and backing up miles of traffic, in some cases.

So, as we say goodbye to 2013 and welcome 2014 give yourself a pat on the back for putting up with what has been horrendous traffic congestion. And, join me in looking forward to the project’s completion and the opening of the new lanes. Let’s hope they help to improve the awful delays that keep us away from home, family, and life’s activities by giving us another option to get where going just a bit faster.