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Woodbridge, Va. –– A woman is behind bars charged with having sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Police say 30-year-old Lacy Dashiell Hill had sex with the boy March 9 in the 5500 block of Spangler Lane in Dale City.

She had been having sex with the boy since October 2009, said Prince William police spokesman Jonathan Perok.

Hill, who lives in Woodbridge, was arrested on Friday and charged with two counts of carnal knowledge.

Her court date was not released.

Police in Prince William were busy on St. Patrick’s Day.

At 6:10 p.m. Thursday, police were called to the 17200 block of Wexford Loop in Dumfries, off of Wayside Drive and U.S. 1, for a report of an attempted robbery.

Officers found a 33-year-old man had been assaulted by four men, but nothing was taken from him.

He suffered injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, said Prince William police spokesman Jonathan Perok.

The men were described as black, between 18 and 25-years-old, said Perok.

Later that night at 9:40, an employee at the Kmart store on Dale Boulevard in Dale City was sprayed with pepper spray when that employee went to investigate a suspicious person inside the store, said Perok.

After spraying the employee, the man ran to the front of the store and fled the area on foot.

Nothing was stolen and the victim did not go to the hospital, said Perok.

The man with the pepper spray is described as White or Hispanic, between 20 and 22-years-old, 5 feet 4 inches tall, 140 pounds with a medium build.

He was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and a baseball cap.

Woodbridge, Va. –– Commuters will have another chance to be heard this month at a town hall meeting.

Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi and Occoquan Supervisor Mike May will hold commuter town hall at 7 p.m. March 23 at the Ferlazzo Building on U.S. 1 Woodbridge.

Last month, the two leaders held a similar meeting to discuss the loss of 750 commuter parking spaces at Potomac Mills mall. Since then the First Baptist Church of Woodbridge near Prince William Parkway and Minnieville Road agreed to lease 350 commuter parking spaces to the county for resident’s use.

“At our last town hall, we heard loud and clear that our commuters wanted parking spaces close to Potomac Mills with enough capacity to slug so their lives were not completely disrupted.   I believe we accomplished this goal,” said Principi.

At the end of the last town hall, many commuters said they would be interested in attending another meeting. This time, officials want to learn more about how commuters are coping with the changes.

“The purpose of the follow up meeting is to update the community as to the logistics of the new First Baptist leased lot, including what bus routes will come through and what slug lines may form.  We will also receive community feedback as to how commuter patterns have changed following the Potomac Mills reduction in spaces,” said May.

Following the loss of the mall parking spaces, Slugs (those who ride in vehicles of three or more occupants to use the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on Interstate 95 and 395) bound for Arlington were told to begin parking at a commuter lot off Gemini Way in Dale City. Those bound for Washington could still continue to park at the mall’s remaining 250 spaces designated for commuter parking.

Late last month, state transportation officials said construction would soon begin on a $7.8 million, 600-space commuter lot near the existing Horner Road lot in Woodbridge.

The lot will be built on the site of an old commuter bus garage.

By Kristina Schnack Kotlus
[email protected]

The Dale City Civic Association named three teachers as the area’s most outstanding educators.

Those chosen this year for the Teacher of the Year award teach at Gar-Field Senior High, Beville Middle and Rosa Parks Elementary schools.

Maj. William Brannen, senior instructor of Gar-Field’s Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps program, was named High School Teacher of the Year.

Brannen took charge of the JROTC program in July 2006 and since has seen enrollment in the program double.

Last year, Gar-Field’s JROTC program was recognized by the Marine Corps as a Region Honor School, a citation earned by only 10 percent of the schools in the area, according to a Prince William County Public Schools press release.

In addition to the civic association’s award, Brannen was also chosen by his colleagues as the 2010–2011 Gar-Field Senior High School Teacher of the Year.

As one student writes, “He is a great role model… the thing I will most remember about him is his persistence—the fact that he never gives up. He is someone who believes in the impossible.”

Amy Crotty, International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme teacher, family and consumer sciences teacher, and department chair at Beville Middle School was named Dale City Civic Association’s Middle School Teacher of the Year.

Crotty is also on the school’s school-wide discipline team and co-sponsor of the student council association.

Crotty consistently uses varied techniques to reach all learning styles, including a “game of life”, the iron chef competition, and a string of guest speakers to spark student’s interest, school officials say.

In nomination letters from students to the civic association, students mentioned feeling safe in her classes and expressed appreciation for the friendly and orderly environment she provides. A coworker notes “[Crotty] gladly does all sorts of things to make our school a better place to work and learn,” school officials said.

Terri Faulkner, school counselor at Rosa Parks Elementary was named Elementary School Teacher of the Year.

Faulkner also leads discipline program, sponsors the safety patrol program, and assists with the Girls on the Run club.

Before students take the Virginia Standards of Learning tests each year, she holds a pre-testing pep rally to inspire children during what can be a stressful time, according to the press release.

Colleagues say she is known for her “fearless” defense of children, and for motivating parents to become involved.

Dale City, Va. –– You’re going to have to put your brain freeze on hold for a bit longer.

The Dairy Queen restaurant in Center Plaza in Dale City is being renovated and was scheduled to reopen on March 22.

On Wednesday, we learned the owners of the store have hit some snags in the renovation process and have pushed back the reopening to March 29.

Yes, that’s only one week later than the original reopening date, but for some of us who love the creamy goodness of soft serve ice cream that can feel like an eternity.

Rebecca Visperas manages the restaurant and says the location will reopen as a “DQ Grill and Chill,” offering more menu options for the tired and famished.

Another Dairy Queen restaurant on Smoketown Road in Woodbridge across from Potomac Mills mall is also undergoing renovations.

That franchise is owned by a different organization than the one that owns the location in Dale City, said Visperas.

Update 10:30 a.m. Saturday
The man arrested and charged in the case of the East Coast Rapist used to live in Dale City.

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Police have turned to digital billboard technology to catch the East Coast Rapist.

Authorities in Fairfax and Prince William counties in a partnership with the FBI and other police agencies have posted sketches on digital billboards in states where the rapist is believed to have struck – in Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island and Virginia.

The most recent attack is believed to have happened Oct. 31, 2009 in Dale City, when three female teenagers were approached and two raped as they were walking home from a night of trick-or-treating.

The attack happened behind Glendale Plaza, as a man approached the victim’s –– two of the girls were age 16 and the other 17 –– from behind with a gun.

He led them into a clearing in a wooded ravine and raped the two 17-year-olds while the 16-year-old looked on, police say.

The 16-year-old was able to use her cell phone to text her mother for help, but as police closed in the man was able to get away, police said.

Following the attack, the two 17-year-old girls were treated at a local hospital and the 16-year-old was not injured.

In all, the serial rapist has been tied to 12 attacks that began in February 1997.

“These billboards give each local police department, and the FBI, an added edge to identifying, locating and apprehending the subject,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Criminal Division, Ronald Hosko. “The public is the most important tool law enforcement has for solving crime.”

The billboard’s come after authorities launched a new website aimed at reaching out to the public to get more information about the serial rapist’s whereabouts.

His victims have been black, white or Hispanic females, and he generally approaches victims on foot and threatens them with a knife or handgun, asks for money to give the impression he is robbing the victim. The serial rapist has never been known to take anything from his victims, however.

In the earliest assaults, the man approached his victims on bicycles, authorities said.

He’s been known to wear a black mask or hooded sweatshirt to conceal his face.

Brush fires raged across the Potomac Communities on Saturday. From the Dale City area, Woodbridge and Stafford, the high winds carried flames that flared up in the dry conditions.

Woodbridge, Va. –– Starting on Monday, Slugs headed to Washington may continue to use the commuter lot at Potomac Mills mall. Everyone else needs to go to Dale City.

That was the official word late Sunday afternoon in an email from Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank J. Principi, which directed commuters who Slug to Rosslyn or to the Pentagon to begin parking at a commuter lot on Gemini Way in Dale City, behind the Giant at Center Plaza off Dale Boulevard.

Commuters are to enter the parking lot on Gemini Way from the entrance closest to Dale Boulevard, near the Comcast building. Read More