Week In Great Falls
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Week In Great Falls

<sh>Four Men Arrested for Attempted Child Exploitation

<bt>The Northern Virginia-Washington DC Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force arrested four local men for attempting child sexual exploitation on the Internet.

The men who were arrested were:

*Charles B. Clark, 58, of the 6300 block of Old Dominion Drive in McLean, arrested April 14.

*Edward Tetteh-Wilson, 26, of Dumfries, arrested April 12.

*Richard C. Woods, 28, of Alexandria, arrested April 12

*Gourav J. Shah, 23, of Washington D.C., arrested April 14.

According to police, all four men were charged in Fairfax County with taking indecent liberties with children and using a communication system in the use of a felony. The arrests were the result of the ICAC Task Force investigation operation conducted by specially trained investigators. The task force is comprised of 23 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The public can report child sexual exploitation by calling the CyberTipline at 1-800-843-5678 or online at www.cybertipline.com.

<sh>Ride A Free Shuttle Bus To McLean Day This Year

<bt>Residents who plan to attend the McLean Day 2006 festival on May 20, at Lewinsville Park should also plan to park and ride this year. Due to a Fairfax County Park Authority request, all of the festival’s heavy carnival rides will be relocated to the hard surface of the parking lot. Lewinsville Park is located at 1659 Chain Bridge Road.

In response to no longer having onsite parking, the event sponsor, the McLean Community Center (MCC), has doubled the number of free shuttle buses and pick-up locations in the surrounding area to make it easier for festival goers to get to the event. Free shuttles buses will be available starting at 9:30 a.m. from the following locations:

*The McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Avenue. Two buses, one handicap accessible, will run to and from the Center’s front entrance.

*Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1545 Chain Bridge Road. Two buses, one handicap accessible, will run to and from the church’s front parking lot.

*McLean Baptist Church, 1367 Chain Bridge Road, across from Franklin Sherman Elementary School and Langley Shopping Center. Two buses, one handicap accessible, will run to and from the stop on Brawner Street.

*Claude Moore Colonial Farm at Turkey Run, 6310 Georgetown Pike. Two buses, neither of them handicap accessible, will run to and from the farm’s parking lot, enabling riders to attend the 18th Century Spring Market Fair being held that day. These buses are being used courtesy of the Montessori School of McLean. The Center will also run a number of small transportation carts, similar to those used in airports, from the rear of the Lewinsville Senior Center. It will pick up on Evers Drive. Call 703-790-0123/TTY: 703-827-8255, or visit www.mcleancenter.org.

<sh>Great Falls Day

<bt>Great Falls Day will be held on May 6, and will begin with the sixth Annual Native Plant Sale, sponsored by the Friends of Riverbend Park. The sale will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The opening ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. on the Hay Wagon Stage in front of the Grange. The one-room school house re-enactment is a local event in which the local Girl Scouts from McLean and Great Falls have participated every year. This will be their 10th anniversary. The re-enactment is a day in school in the early 1900's. The girls wear period clothing and take part in skits that demonstrate a typical day in that era. Historic picture displays will also be in the Old School House on the Grange grounds from 12-4 p.m. Other activities will include, tours of the fire safety trailer, sundial demonstrations, craft demonstrations, music by local talent, food vendors, exhibits by local organizations, raffle drawings and activities in the Great Falls Library. This event is sponsored by the Great Falls Historical Society and the Fairfax County Park Authority. For more information, please contact Betty Swartz at 703-759-2378, or Calvin Follin at 703-759-7680. You may also visit the Great Falls Historical Web site at www.gfhs.org.

<sh>The Langley School Hosts Red Cross Blood Drive

<bt>On Saturday, May 6, The Langley School will host an American Red Cross blood drive from 9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. in the main gym of the school's Solomon Athletic Center, located at 1411 Balls Hill Road in McLean. Langley is organizing its first blood drive in part to expose students to a different type of service project. Although Langley students are too young to give blood themselves, they will help spread the word about the blood drive in the community and will create thank you cards for donors. According to the American Red Cross, the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the country, someone in the United States needs blood every two seconds. Yet only five percent of the eligible U.S. population donates blood in any given year. Blood donors must be 17 years and older who weigh at least 110 pounds, be in generally good health, have not received a tattoo within the past year, and have not donated blood in the last 56 days. The whole donation process takes about one hour. It starts with registration, a health history, and a mini-physical. This is followed by the actual donation of blood, which usually takes less than 10-12 minutes. Afterward, donors will be asked to spend a few minutes in the "canteen" where they can enjoy light refreshments before returning to normal activities. If you plan to give blood on May 6, Langley and the American Red Cross ask that you schedule your lifesaving donation ahead of time by contacting Anne Goldfein at (703) 356-1920.

<sh>No Trail for Cedar Chase

<bt>Residents of the Cedar Chase subdivision should not need to have what amounts to an on-road sidewalk in their community, said the Fairfax County Planning Commission during their April 19 meeting.

The 49-house development is on two cul-de-sacs off the Reston Parkway, just south of its intersection with Leesburg Pike. When the development was approved in 1998, the plan called for a trail (sidewalk) to be built. However, the houses were built close to the street, in order to preserve trees in the rear of the properties, said Tom Greeson. Greeson is both an attorney for the Homeowner’s Association, and he lives in the development.

Instead of a paved sidewalk, the residents were to have a strip along the side of the road with white, diagonal markings indicating that it was for pedestrians. The striping has not been done, and the residents in the development don’t want it.

“This is a kind of stripe you see in an industrial area, in a mall, not in a residential area,” Greeson said.

Planning Commissioner Frank de la Fe (Hunter Mill) said his first reaction was to deny the application, since the county does not typically endorse removing pedestrian amenities. “However, this isn’t a trail, and it’s on a private street,” de la Fe said.

He further asked that the funds which had been set aside for construction of the "trail" go to other pedestrian amenities in the area, rather than being returned to the developer. County staff and the residents will work out specific language to that effect. The plan must go to the Board of Supervisors for final approval. A date has not been set.