<sh>Murder Suspect Arrested
<bt>Fairfax County police Wednesday arrested Charles Wesley Helem, 32, of 8100 Pointer Lane, Manassas, charging him with the Aug. 6 murder of a Chantilly mother of two. The woman, Patricia Bentley, 38, of Brookfield, was found dead in the upper level of her townhouse. Police say she died of asphyxiation.
Bentley was a single mother of two boys, 8 and 15. Since May 1996, she drove a school bus in South Riding for Loudoun County Schools. On Monday, police straight-indicted Helem, a truck driver, before the grand jury; they arrested him at work at a delivery site. He's being held without bond in the Adult Detention Center and was to be arraigned Thursday, Sept. 19.
<sh>Alton Fountain's Funeral
<bt>Funeral services will be held at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, Sept. 30, at 1 p.m. for Alton N. Fountain Jr. The longtime resident of Centreville's Chalet Woods community died Aug. 6 in Orlando., Fla., at age 71. Everyone is invited to attend his services. As you go in at the memorial gate, tell the guards you're there for the Fountain service, and they will direct you to the administration building. Attendees must arrive by 12:30 p.m.
<sh>Blood Urgently 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, as well as A and B. 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>CCF Meets Tuesday
<bt>The Centreville Day committee of the Centreville Community Foundation (CCF) will meet Tuesday, Sept. 24, 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, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in conference room 7 at the Fairfax County Government Center. Call Mark McConn at 703-818-9124.
<sh>Park Authority Meeting
<bt>The next meeting of the Fairfax County Park Authority will be Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m. It's in the Herrity Building, 12055 Government Center Parkway, Suite 900, in Fairfax. Call Judy Pedersen at 703-324-8662. At this meeting, the Park Authority's board is scheduled to decide on the general management plans for both the Quinn Farm Park and the Lanes Mill Park.
<sh>Biting Hand That Helps
<bt>Talk about biting the hand that helps you. A woman was walking in the 13800 block of Braddock Springs Road, last Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 11:45 p.m., when she saw an 8-week-old kitten stuck in a tree.
As she tried to help the kitten, it bit her on the hand, puncturing her skin. The kitten — described as having short, black-and-white hair — then ran away. Anyone with information about the kitten is asked to call Fairfax County Animal Control at 703-266-6490.
<sh>Address Correction
<bt>Thomas Powers — the man charged with DWI after allegedly striking a 39-year-old Oak Hill woman with his car, Sept. 4, in Franklin Farm — actually lives at 3263 Kinross Circle in Oak Hill.
<sh>Grocery Store is Moving
<bt>Shoppers Food Warehouse is moving from the Centreville Square Shopping Center to the former home of the SuperFresh store in the Marketplace at Centre Ridge. The move should be completed some time this month; no word as yet about what business will move into SFW's old spot.
<sh>Rabid Raccoon Found
<bt>Fairfax County Animal Control responded Sept. 4 to Chantilly High, for a report of a sick raccoon. A student had captured the raccoon in his yard on Cristo Court, in Centreville's Country Club Manor community, and taken it to school. The raccoon was euthanized and taken to the county Health Department where it tested positive for the rabies virus. The boy never came into physical contact with the raccoon.
<sh>12E Metrobus Changes
<bt>Beginning Sunday, Sept. 29, Metrobuses on the 12E Centreville South line will be rescheduled to leave the Centreville United Methodist Church park-and-ride lot at 5:39, 6:07, 6:19, 6:44, 6:54, 7:14, 7:29 and 7:59 a.m. While these buses will pass St. Germain and Strasburg drives two minutes later than shown on the current timetable, they will continue to arrive at the Centreville/Stone Road park-and-ride lot and the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metrorail station as currently scheduled.
<sh>WFCM Needs Food, Volunteers
<bt>Western Fairfax Christian Ministry's (WFCM) food pantry — which provides food to local needy families — is in urgent need of several items. They are: Baby food and baby items, personal-care items, pasta, rice, tuna and canned meats.
To donate, call 703-815-3238, or bring these things to the Shepherd Center. It's open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., and is between Fashion Bug and Payless Shoes in the Sully Plaza Shopping Center at 13924 Metrotech Drive in Chantilly.
The WFCM also needs volunteers, Thursdays, from 10 a.m.-noon and from noon-2 p.m. To volunteer, call 703-988-9656.
<sh>Have Fun, Help Out
<bt>The Pumpkin Patch at Cox Farms, off Braddock Road in Centreville, will soon be open with new and exciting activities for children. And Cox Farms is also doing its share to help those less fortunate in the local community. On Columbus Day, Monday, Oct. 14, it will donate $1 of each entry fee to the Western Fairfax Christian Ministry (WFCM). In addition, it's asking each person who comes that day to bring a canned good to help stock the WFCM's food pantry.
<sh>Kids in Crisis Ministry
<bt>Western Fairfax Christian Ministry's (WFCM) Kids in Crisis Ministry provides emergency assistance to families impacted by a child's illness. Since such families are too distracted to research all the organizations that might help them, if anyone knows of a family in need, please advise them to call the hotline at 703-378-3045. Leave a message on the "Kids in Crisis" box, and a volunteer will return the call.
This program offers a safety net for families whose income or expenses are affected by a child's illness. Besides medical bills, they'll incur costs such as travel, babysitting, special equipment and home health care.
Even families with adequate health insurance may find it difficult to meet these expenses. Kids in Crisis aids in areas not covered by traditional health insurance policies. For more information, call the hotline or Karen Dolan at 703-266-3144.
<sh>WFCM Personnel Needs
<bt>The Western Fairfax Christian Ministries (WFCM) has several volunteer positions available.
* It needs a client coordinator to make follow-up calls to members of the community who have recently received assistance. This person would also cross-reference recipients with other WFCM services (food and clothing ministry). It would be a good job for someone who has to stay close to home.
* On-call volunteers are also needed. After receiving training, they'll monitor requests for help, coming from the local community, via a telephone mailbox. There's a social worker on staff, plus an extensive network of support to help and encourage people in self-sufficiency.
* WFCM's food pantry needs volunteers to work Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., and Saturdays, noon-2 p.m. To volunteer for any of these positions. or for more information, call 703-378-3045 and leave a message on box 7.
<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.