<sh>Grand Jury Indicts Cronan for Murder
<bt>A Fairfax County grand jury on Monday indicted 54-year-old William Martin Cronan Jr. of Clifton for the Dec. 15 murder of his wife Sigrid, 49. Police responded to the home around 9:45 p.m., that night, after Cronan called them and reported the tragedy. His wife had been shot twice in the head, and police say Cronan allegedly admitted killing her.
The Cronans lived at 13209 Twin Lakes Drive, near Twin Lakes Golf Course. In searches of the home after the crime, police seized a semi-automatic handgun, a leather holster, a bullet, two cartridge casings and Sigrid Cronan's computer and its associated hardware and software.
Police believe she was using her computer to e-mail people, at the time of her death, and that "these electronic correspondences might have been a motive for her murder." William Cronan has been held without bond in the Adult Detention Center since the night of the crime. He is scheduled to have a jury trial on April 30.
<sh>Man Assaulted, Robbed
<bt>Fairfax County police are looking for three men who assaulted and robbed a Centreville couple, Sunday night, near their home in the London Towne community. Police say a man and woman got out of their car, around 9:10 p.m., in the 14000 block of Haymarket Lane and were walking to their home when the incident occurred.
According to police, one of the men had a knife, and the male victim sustained minor cuts on his body. However, he refused medical treatment at the scene by the county Fire and Rescue Department. Police say the three assailants fled the area after taking the man's wallet.
All three suspects are described as Hispanic, 5 feet 6 inches and in their late teens to early 20s. Two of them weighed about 130 pounds, and the third weighed 165 pounds. One suspect had a shaved head and wore a blue shirt. The other two suspects both had short, straight brown hair, and one of them also had a mustache. Anyone with information about them or about this incident is asked to call police at 703-691-2131.
<sh>Kelley's Charges Dropped
<bt>In November, Fairfax County police charged Tracie Kelley of Centreville's Lee Overlook community with two counts of embezzlement. The charges stemmed from a theft of computer equipment from American Systems Corp. (ASC) of Chantilly — and its resale over the Internet.
Stolen from ASC's warehouse between Aug. 31 and Sept. 20 were 31 Cisco ethernet routers, which keep data flowing smoothly in a computer network. Kelley's husband Lawrence worked at ASC during that time, and police allegedly tied him to these crimes and his wife to the later sale of some of these routers via E-Bay.
Last Monday, March 11, before Judge Ian O'Flaherty, the charges against Tracie Kelley were dropped in General District Court. As for Lawrence Kelley, on Oct. 29, police issued a warrant charging him with one count of embezzlement. However, it hasn't yet been served.
According to court records, he's been detained by authorities in Iowa since Dec. 30, on other charges, and it is not known when he will return to Fairfax County.
<sh>First Parking Garage Opens at Dulles
<bt>A $45 million, five-story parking garage was unveiled last Friday at Dulles International Airport. It will provide airport customers with 3,700 daily parking spaces. The garage is within walking distance of the terminal, on the west side of the airport. Customers may also walk to the baggage-claim area from the ground floor of the garage or use the free, shuttle-bus service. The garage's opening brings the total number of parking spaces available at Dulles to more than 20,000.
<sh>Stanley Martin Deferred
<bt>After 25 speakers addressed the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Monday about a residential community proposed by Stanley Martin, Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully) deferred decision on the plan until next month. Called The Village at Mount Gilead, it consists of some four dozen luxury homes and it's partly in Centreville's Historic District.
The new neighborhood would be built near Wharton Lane and Mount Gilead Road. Planned are 2,200-4,000 square-foot, single-family, detached homes in a neotraditional and Colonial-style. And Civil War earthworks near the center of the site will be preserved
as a special feature of the new community.
However, a new objection has arisen: Some people believe the new homes will destroy the Historic District's ambiance — especially the view of the district from St. John's Episcopal Church. "I believe the far more important vista is out the front door of the church and down Mount Gilead Road," said Frey. "But it's hard to argue against those feelings."
Besides, he added, the Historic District is an "arbitrary designation," only based on the fact that it encompasses several historic buildings. "Nobody else on the Board has a multi-structure historic area," said Frey. Therefore, because of the unusual nature of Centreville's Historic District and because "my colleagues on the Board need time to digest the information presented Monday," he deferred the Stanley Martin decision until April 8.
<sh>Trespassing Arrest
<bt>Fairfax County police arrested a Burke teen-ager last week and charged him with trespassing at Mountain View School. He is Jonathan Tyler "JT" Martin, 18, of 6310 Glenbard Road. Police say Martin was allegedly on school property, last Tuesday, March 12, during a time when he'd been banned from the school. He was released on a summons.
<sh>Felony Charges Dropped
<bt>Believing that a Chantilly woman sent harassing faxes to various business and to Northern Virginia Community College, on Nov. 27, police charged Cynthia Lin of Brookfield with eight offenses — four counts of forgery, two counts of uttering (passing a fraudulent document) and two counts of telephone abuse.
Last Wednesday, March 13, in General District Court, Judge Stewart Davis dropped all but the two misdemeanor charges — telephone abuse — against her. She's slated for an April 18 trial on these two offenses.
<sh>UOSA Gets OK
<bt>The Upper Occoquan Sewage Authority (UOSA) got a thumbs-up Monday from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to expand its Centreville pumping station. The facility brings wastewater from western Fairfax County to UOSA's plant on Compton Road, and the expansion will increase the pumping capacity from 9 million to 18 million gallons per day.
Known as UOSA's Cub Run pumping station, it's located where the bridge is over I-66, and the expansion will be an infill between two existing buildings. UOSA needed the county's approval for a special-exception permit to use the expanded pumping station and also for some limited filling within the flood plain.
<sh>CCF Mtg. Tuesday
<bt>The Centreville Community Foundation (CCF) will meet Tuesday, March 26, at 7 p.m. in Supervisor Michael R. Frey's (R-Sully) conference room. It's in the Fort Hill Building, 5900 Centreville Road in Centreville. Call Sandy Shapiro at 703-266-3653.
<sh>Sully District Council
<bt>The Sully District Council of Citizens Associations will meet Wednesday, March 27, at 7:30 p.m. in conference room 7 of the Fairfax County Government Center. Call Mark McConn at 703-818-9124.
<sh>Park Authority Mtg.
<bt>The next meeting of the Fairfax County Park Authority will be Wednesday, March 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Herrity Building, 12055 Government Center Parkway, Suite 900, in Fairfax. Call Judy Pedersen at 703-324-8662.
<sh>Food Pantry Needs
<bt>The Western Fairfax Christian Ministries (WFCM) food pantry is in need of several items. They are: Jelly, coffee, tea, juice boxes, syrup, oil, sugar, cereal, crackers, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning products and diapers larger than infant and newborn.
The food pantry also needs volunteers, Thursdays, from noon-2 p.m. Needed, as well, are: Volunteers with trucks to help move heavy items, a volunteer handy-person good with phones, copy machines, faxes and thermostats, a volunteer to wash the Shepherd Center glass front entrance, artwork suitable for display in pantry waiting area, a vacuum, newer-model frost-free refrigerators and a laptop computer.
<sh>Blood Still Needed
<bt>The Inova Blood Donor Center in the Centremed I Building on Route 29 in Centreville (across from the Centreville Multiplex Cinemas) is in urgent need of blood donations — especially O positive or negative. They are accepted Tuesday-Friday, noon-8 p.m., and Saturday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. To make an appointment to give blood, call (703) 322-1970, or just drop in at your own convenience.
<sh>WFCM Needs Drivers
<bt>The Western Fairfax Christian Ministries is in need of drivers to take elderly people to medical appointments. Call (703) 378-3045 and press 7 to volunteer for this or any other WFCM ministry.
<sh>Meals on Wheels
<bt>The Clifton Meals on Wheels program urgently needs a volunteer to coordinate the delivery of meals to frail, elderly residents. Call the Fairfax Area Agency on Aging at (703) 324-5406.