"bonnie schipper"

‘15,000 Hot Dogs To Break Even’

Permit costs spur gas station’s request to sell alcohol, too.

Raj Gupta just wanted an OK to add hot dogs to his convenience store’s offerings at the Centre Ridge Exxon station.

Community Mourns Girl, 16

Missing since Sunday, she was found dead in park.

Just a month before her 17th birthday, friends, family members and classmates from Chantilly, Centreville and Fairfax are mourning the loss of a local girl.

Community Mourns Local Girl, 16

Missing since Sunday, Cara Golias was found dead in a park.

Just a month before her 17th birthday, friends, family members and classmates from Chantilly, Centreville and Fairfax are mourning the loss of a local girl. The body of Cara Lynn Golias, 16, of the City of Fairfax, was found Monday afternoon in Hemlock Overlook Regional Park in Clifton.

Fairfax Fall Festival Means Family Fun

Children’s rides, crafts, food and entertainment.

When it comes to family fun, it’s hard to beat the Fairfax Fall Festival. It’s set for Saturday, Oct. 11 (rain date, Oct. 12), from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and features a cornucopia of entertainment, including Journey and Bruce Springsteen tribute bands, a lumberjack competition, food, crafts and carnival rides.

Special-Needs Children Given Wings to Fly

Therapy and recreational center opens in Chantilly.

When Donna Shank’s son Ryan was diagnosed with autism eight yeas ago, she traveled throughout the Washington Metropolitan area to get treatment for him. “Most children with autism, and other children with special needs, require several different types of therapies, such as speech and occupational therapy and additional tutoring,” she said. “But it’s difficult to find all these services in one location. So my dream was to provide an all-in-one, integrated, therapy center.”

‘Anything Goes’ in This Production

Westfield Summer Stage presents musical.

When Lori Knickerbocker and Yvonne Henry saw the Broadway revival of the musical, “Anything Goes,” they realized it would be perfect for Westfield Summer Stage. And now, Knickerbocker’s directing and Henry’s choreographing this show for local audiences.

‘I’m Just Grateful My Son Is Still Alive’

Useful information about substance-abuse dangers.

Part Two If anyone knows about substance abuse, it’s Sarah McDade who, admittedly, has been to hell and back with her son. And she shared his story during a recent, substance-abuse forum at Madison High. Called “Protecting Against the Realities of Substance Abuse,” it was put on by Parents Reaching Out To Educate Communities Together (P.R.O.T.E.C.T.), a task force of the Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County. “My son had his own set of horrors,” said McDade. “I kept an eye on him and found out where he was going – and it didn’t matter. My son was already a drug addict at 15; he started with alcohol and went to marijuana. He had his first arrest, with two other boys. But the county evaluated him and said he didn’t have a substance-abuse problem.” Then when he was 16, he fell in the street. “He had a .27 blood-alcohol content, and .3 and above can kill you,” said McDade. “But my son was bullied and wanted to fit in; he thought drinking and using marijuana made him cool. He could be charming and he also had ADHD, and he bamboozled the psychiatrist we got him into prescribing him more drugs. Looking back, he probably peddled half of them.”

Five New Parks in Sully Woodlands

Residents are asked to submit their ideas for them

The Fairfax County Park Authority wants to hear residents’ thoughts about its new comprehensive plan for parkland in Sully Woodlands. So it held a recent public meeting in Centreville to let people see what’s proposed and comment on it.

Roundups

Time To Spring Forward Daylight Saving Time begins this Sunday, March 9, at 2 a.m. So before going to bed Saturday night, residents are reminded to turn their clocks, watches and other electronic devices forward one hour. CAC Meeting on Drugs The Citizens Advisory Committee of the Sully District Police Station will meet Wednesday, March 12, from 7:30-9 p.m., in the Sully District Governmental Center, 4900 Stonecroft Blvd. in Chantilly. In an adults-only presentation, a detective from the Organized Crime and Narcotics division will talk about dangerous drugs in Fairfax County and what’s being done to combat them. R.S.V.P. to FCPDSULCPO@fairfaxcounty.gov or 703-814-7018.

‘The Best High-School Musicians in Virginia’

Three Madison students to play in All-State Band.

Three Madison High students will be performing this weekend in Blacksburg with the Virginia All-State Band. The talented musicians are senior Go Eun Jeong, junior Daniel Schwartz and sophomore Mike Niebergall. Only the top musicians in their district bands got to audition for All-State Band. Auditions were held Feb. 22 at JMU, with hundreds of students from across Virginia vying for a spot. Each had to play various scales, plus an excerpt from a song written solely for that audition. They also had to sight-read new music and play it on the spot.

Tackling a Traffic Trouble Spot

VDOT begins study of I-66/Route 28 interchange.

The traffic-congestion problem at the I-66/Route 28 Interchange in the Centreville/Chantilly area isn’t going to be solved anytime soon. But at least it’s on VDOT’s radar.

Safety Check: ‘They’re Saving Lives Today’

Officers check commercial trucks for violations.

At first glance, it looked like a big-rig parade, with large commercial trucks lined up one behind the other in a parking lot off Route 28 in Chantilly.

Heading to Harrisonburg

Six CVHS students make Virginia’s All-State Choir.

Six Centreville High students — Kayla Ebright, Jared Knutti, Lily Park, Patrick McGinty, Joshua Ewalt and Hailey Knapp — have made Virginia’s All-State Choir. And they’ll perform in it, April 26, in Harrisonburg.

Centreville High Guitarists, Performers Present 30th Gumbo Concert

‘They Rise to Another Level’

Take some talented guitarists, add other musicians and singers and stir well, and the result is a Centreville High tradition: The school’s annual Gumbo Concert.

Fairfax City Council Mulls Location of Community Center

Three or more sites are under consideration.

For more than a year, a committee has been researching potential sites for a community center in the City of Fairfax.

University Drive Extension Project Advances Slightly

Council votes to bring it to 30-percent design.

The Fairfax City Council has not completely approved the controversial University Drive extension...But the project inched forward slightly Tuesday night when the members voted to advance it to the 30-percent design stage.