TJ Elementary Teacher Dies at Age 34
Carey Rainey Gray, a reading specialist at Falls Church’s Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, passed away Saturday after an 11-month battle with cancer. She was 34. “
TJ Elementary Teacher Dies at Age 34
Carey Rainey Gray, a reading specialist at Falls Church’s Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, passed away Saturday after an 11-month battle with cancer. She was 34. ” As the reading specialist at TJ, Carey worked with students who needed additional help,” Superintendent Lois Berlin said. “She was the embodiment of acaring spirit, and she inspired her students to become successful in the most sweet, gentle manner. She will be missed.” Gray was a 10-year veteran teacher and a 2005 nominee for the Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award. In her nomination letter, then TJ Principal Trudy Taylor described Gray as, “a team player whose warm and trusting nature allows her to set a comfort level in her classroom that encourages her students to take risks with their attempts at learning.” TJ students also wrote letters of support describing Gray as, “someone who is nice and funny and is honest and fair because she splits things equally.”Gray is survived by her husband, Trevor, and her son, Carter.
‘Tea Party’ Favorites Win in 8th & 11th Districts
Republican candidates favored by the ‘Tea Party’ movement in Northern Virginia won Congressional primaries in the 8th and 11th Districts Tuesday. In the 11th District, which the national ‘Tea Party’ has targeted for a concerted effort in November, Keith Fimian prevailed over Patrick Herrity by a margin of 55.9 percent to 44.1 percent (20,072 to 15,814). The voter turnout was 7.7 percent of active registered voters. Fimian will now take aim at freshman Democratic congressman Gerry Connolly. In the 8th District, where GOP chances of upending 10-term Democratic congressman Jim Moran are all but nil, Iraq war veteran Patrick Murray edged attorney Matthew Berry by a 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent margin (7,154 to 6,633). There, the turnout was only three percent of active registered voters.
Ruling on Episcopal Case Due Today
The Virginia Supreme Court is due to issue its ruling on the property dispute between the Episcopal Church and breakaway congregations at 9:30 a.m. today, June 10, the News-Press has learned. The ruling will establish, among other things, whether the breakaway Anglicans who defected from the Episcopal Church in 2006 will retain the right to occupy the property of the historic Falls Church in downtown City of Falls Church, or whether they must vacate the premises and give them over to the congregation of “continuing Episcopalians,” composed of members of The Falls Church who did not agree to defect, that have been meeting in the fellowship hall of the nearby Falls Church Presbyterian Church.
F.C.’s 2941 Restaurant Feted With Award
F.C.’s 2941 Restaurant at 2941 Fairview Park Dr. in greater Falls Church won the 2010 Washington Area Restaurant Association RAMMY Award for Fine Dining Restaurant while 2941’s Anthony Chavez won the Pastry Chef of the Year award. Over 1,600 people gathered Sunday night to recognize the Washington, D.C.-area’s top restaurant industry professionals. Other award winners included D.C.’s Birch & Barley winning best New Restaurant, Old Town Alexandria’s Vermillion took home the prize for best Upscale Casual Restaurant, Scott Drewno of The Source by Wolfgang Puck won Chef of the Year honors and Bibiana’s Nicholas Stefanelli won the Rising Culinary Star award.
F.C. Sewer Rehab Work Continues
Work is continuing on the City of Falls Church’s annual sanitary sewer rehabilitation project designed to extend the life of existing sewer mains and reducing treatment costs paid by the City. The project will line 9,100 linear feet of sewer main with polyester resin on the following streets: Brice Street, Cleave Drive, East Broad Street, Ellison Street, Greenwich Street, Great Falls Street, Hillwood Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, Linden Lane, Meridian Street, Parker Street, Patterson Street, Scipio Lane, Shirley Street, South Oak Street, and South Washington Street.
Lierman to Run for Md. State Assembly
Kyle Lierman, who became legendary in the City of Falls Church in the fall of 2008 as the young man who directed the Obama for President campaign headquarters here, has announced this week that he’s running for the Maryland House of Delegates from the 16th District, including his home of Bethesda, Chevy Chase and surrounding areas. It will be Lierman’s first bid for public office.
Henderson Assistant Principal Named
As of August 1, Jeanne Seabridge will move from her role as Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School’s career and technical education teacher to assistant principal. The Falls Church City School Board formally appointed Seabridge to her new post at Tuesday night’s meeting. “Jeanne has already demonstrated superb instructional and leadership capabilities in her role as a middle school teacher and as a K-12 Curriculum, Instruction and Resource Teacher (CIRT) in our school division,” Superintendent Lois Berlin said. “Her child-centered approach, her proven ability to lead and her personal experience with the Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School culture make her an ideal candidate to serve as the school’s next assistant principal.” Seabridge is a 27-year veteran teacher who was also a nominee for the 2009 Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher award.
Connolly Lashes Out at ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’
Speaking to the monthly luncheon of the Northern Virginia Democratic Business Council in Falls Church last Friday, Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly lashed out at what he called the Republican Party’s “culture of laissez faire and easy answers'” for contributing to the British Petroleum’s catastrophic oil spill that has been gushing oil for over 60 days into the Gulf of Mexico. “They insist on answers that are simple, neat and wrong, such as ‘Drill Baby drill,'” he said, noting it was GOP-sponsored legislation that allowed for BP’s “Deepwater Horizon” effort to be exempted from a National Environmental Protection Agency review. He added that if oil drilling is allowed off the Virginia coast, it will bring only six days’ supply and will threaten the state’s loss of vital Navy operations in the Tidewater.
