Brown's Chapel Rec Center: Issue instantly resolved through Facebook group, e-petition

A group of Reston residents opposed to the awesome new $65 million recreation center/roller derby arena the RA and RCC are proposing be built at Brown's Chapel has done what any group of disenfranchised citizens in the 21st century would do -- get a bunch of dopey teabags and stand in a rain-soaked field. Oh, wait -- we're thinking of another group of Right-thinking Americans, but like the teabaggers, the Coalition to Save Brown's Chapel Park has set up an online petition, a Facebook group (which links to another group with a petition to BAN HOMEWORK), and even that cutting-edge bit of technology, a P.O. box.

Let the board members of Reston Association and Reston Community Center know we do not want them to destroy this picturesque park to build a massive recreation center complex and multi-story parking garage. Reston residents will solely carry the burden for this $100,000,000.00 (one hundred million dollar) project. We don't want to lose our baseball fields, picnic areas, walking trails, basketball court and playground. Open spaces are valuable resources which require stewardship for all Restonians.

Call to Action: Come to the Public Input Meeting on May 18 at 7:30 at the Reston Community Center at Lake Anne. Show your support wear a White shirt. Kids are encouraged to attend wearing their baseball uniforms.

The wearing of color-coordinated fashions to public meetings reminds us of another awesome advocacy group, but maybe this one will have better luck. Apparently this Unstoppable Coalition has enlisted the forces of Reston Little League, which is concerned about losing playing space. Writes one:

This is a travesty - we are trading hours of fun for our children in the outdoors for a small number of people to play tennis.

Watch out, kids -- the one thing people in Reston are rabid about is indoor tennis. But maybe the RA will take a "divide and conquer" approach to shattering the coalition by offering to include in the new facility an indoor "base-ball" field, complete with fancy CFC lighting to keep young outfielders from losing the ball in the sun. Or maybe more parking. Everyone loves parking spaces. Wheee!

Treepocalypse Now: Oh, the humanity beaverity

Some people think the ongoing stream restoration process is only affecting scores upon untold scores a few trees. But, as our intrepid correspondent, the Peasant from Less Sought After South Reston, points out, the true victims are the critters. After risking the Reston version of extraordinary rendition (being abducted by one of those white RA pickups and driven to Chantilly) to provide an undercover look at the imminent destruction of Glade, he provides this shocking update:

Journalistic good fortune of being in the right place at the right time continues to follow The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston. While stepping out this past Saturday evening with Mrs. Peasant for a culinary feast at Cafesano in the South Lakes shopping center, what did we see while driving down Twin Branches but...a newly-deceased beaver corpse on the side of the road opposite the eastern end of Lake Audubon. Stopping to further examine the crime scene, we found this specimen of Castor canadensis belly up by the curb, and when we say belly up, we are talking about a very full belly (perhaps this critter had been drag racing WSSI to see who could clear-cut the Snakeden watershed faster). We also observed that the dental profession in Reston is missing a golden business opportunity, because not only was this critter orthodontically-challenged but his one visible tooth was a bright shade of...non-DRB approved orange that just begged for a teeth-whitening procedure. (One can only imagine the conversation back at the beaver lodge that Ma and Pa Beaver must have had with their young 'un about this: "Dagnabit, son, keep eating that junk food you find around the 7-11 on Soapstone and your teeth are going to rot out!").

Now a dead varmint on the side of the road would not normally be newsworthy; witness the squeamish squishing of squashed squirrels that occurs non-stop all over Reston's roadways. BUT -- as faithful readers of this blog will recall, when The Peasant infiltrated WSSI's March of the Hobbits along Reach 5 of the Glade Stream on April 18, the only brouhaha among the assembled tree-huggers was caused by the issue of "the beaver area", to use WSSI's somewhat inelegant term for the swamp created by these critters a while back. The tree-huggers had been told that the beavers who once lived there were long departed; even Wizard Mike of WSSI claimed he could not control these critters. After the heated discussion at the Hobbit March between Mr. Know-It-All and Granola Crunching Granny about these varmints, there is something almost...karma-like..about this dead beaver sighting.

So...we are left with the mysterious case of the dead beaver on the side of the road at Twin Branches. We can only speculate that A) it is Reston's version of the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano; B) this was a navigationally-challenged beaver who took a wrong turn on his way down to the Tidal Basin to pull a George Washington and chop down some more cherry trees, or C) WSSI, having listened to community concerns, is going green. Instead of using skidders, backhoes, chain saws and the like to clear the next reach of the Glade Stream of those pesky trees, they are importing Mother Nature's own little Corps of Orthodontically-Challenged Engineers to do the work. What's not to like with this plan? Zero carbon emissions, zero decibels, and zero protests from those annoying tree-huggers!

It's another only-in-Reston story that makes us proud to live in our beloved mauve-colored New Town.

Let's just hope the beaver wasn't infected with the swine flu.

Metro Silver Line: At the Wiehle station, all 80s all the time

No, you're not looking at some hip chewing gum ad from 1987, but the proposed artwork (PDF) that will greet passengers as they enter the Wiehle Avenue Metro station, once it's built sometime between 2013 and... well, never. (Could be worse -- if you live in Loudoun, the final push into that county's particleboard heartland won't be completed until December 2016 at the earliest, but probably more like 2018.. or maybe never.)

The Tysons stations get all kinds of bitchin' glowing cones and whatnot for their "public art," but the powers that be opted for this for Wiehle. You can almost see Don Johnson strolling through the station in slow motion, as some not-quite-edgy Glenn Frey song plays in the background. To be fair, artist David Wilson does a lot of work with stained glass, so we assume it will look a lot less pastel-like when it's finally built. Especially once the DRB gets their hands on these plans and requires the stained glass to be one of four approved earth tones.

Breaking: Body of Missing Reston Man Found in Lake Fairfax Park

The body of William Eustace, who had been missing from his home in Reston since last October, was found by two boys in Lake Fairfax Park last Thursday.

On Thursday, April 23 at around 4:45 p.m. two teenagers playing at Lake Fairfax Park, 1400 Lake Fairfax Drive discovered a body in a wooded area. An autopsy determined it was William Eustace, 72, of 1602 Waters Edge Lane in Reston. The medical examiner’s office has not yet determined the exact cause and manner of death.

But here's the odd thing. After saying nothing about the case since October, Fairfax police posted an update that they were still searching for him last Thursday -- the same day his body was found. They didn't get around to pointing out that they found it until today. Of course, that earlier release said information about the case was entered into the National Crime Information Center computer, so it's possible foul play is suspected. If that's the case, we'll probably hear about it six months from now.

Update: Police now say that foul play is not suspected.

Reston Real Estate: The High-Low Game, pt. 10 (reduced expectations edition)

It's been far too long since we've played everyone's favorite game of earth-toned real estate wheelin' and dealin', so grab a crowbar to pry some of that sweet bailout money out of your friendly insolvent bank of choice, and let's get to it!

Of course, these are trying times, so in the interest of being sensitive to those of our readers who still manage to get wireless Internet from their tarps in Targetville, we're going to set the maximum at a trifling $1,000,000 -- not quite enough for a fancy high-rise penthouse or one of those trophy McMansions right outside of Reston proper, but more than enough to buy the 'ole distillery or this gem on Lake Newport.

AMAZING VIEWS!Stunning CP1 contemporary home on Lake Newport with water views from nearly every room in the house!Enjoy the water from your balcony overlooking the lake**Feels like a vacation home, but is located close to everything**Wonderful N.Reston location within walking distance of shopping,pools,elem.school & surrounded by rec areas& parks.Cul-de-sac location.

Sweet! For the lowest of seven figures, you too can own a house named after two prestigious letters and one exclusive digit -- it doesn't get any more exclusive than "1," except maybe in the Langley district! Plus, if you buy this CP1 house, you'll get -- at no extra charge! -- these awesome cutouts and a pyramid-shaped set of steps, so you can wile away your free time playing the real-life version of this.

On the other end of the price spectrum is this condo on Freetown Court, which is going for a mere $85,000. That works out to a $355 mortgage, which is something even a filthy "web-logger" could probably scrape together. Of course it's a short sale, though you can tell the care that's gone into marketing this property by the Realtor (tm) (R), who apparently took this picture from his moving car, quite possibly because he was too afraid to stop and chat with the locals.

This Week in Crime: Another week, another endangered adult

Following the recent search for a Reston woman and her two boys, Fairfax County Police are looking for a 70-year-old man who disappeared from his home in South Reston last October. October?

William Eustace has not returned to his home on Waters Edge Lane in Reston. He may appear confused and he is in need of medication. He was last seen on Saturday, October 25, 2008 at around 3 p.m.

The 70-year-old man [is] missing and considered endangered due to medical concerns. He was last seen at his home in the 1600 block of Waters Edge Lane in the Reston area around 3 p.m. Saturday, October 25. He left the residence on foot without his medications. He is about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 165 pounds. He has white hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a brown, leather jacket, a T-shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information pertaining to the whereabouts of William Eustace is asked to contact Detective John Kelly at 703-246-7526, or the Fairfax County Police Department at 703-691-2131.

Eustace has been entered into the National Crime Information Center computer, police say.

Flashback Monday: A skyscraper emerges from the primeval ooze

Well, maybe not, but this is a shot of what appears to be the central core of Heron House, the fancy high-rise at Lake Anne Village Center, rising from the muddy shores of what would become the lake -- and most likely the tallest freestanding structure anywhere west of the Beltway at the time, unless you count the random odd grain solo or whatnot.

Reston's original plans called for a number of similar high-rise buildings to dot the area around Lake Anne, but that never came to fruition, though the awesome new comprehensive plan for the area is destined to turn it into "another Manhattan," complete with a Times-Square like plaza of fancy neon signs and polyglot hot dog vendors and a $65 million rec center across the street, fulfilling Reston's long-deferred dream of indoor tennis courts.

Sorry -- just got a little carried away there. Something like that would never happen.

Photo Phun: I want the piece with the out-of-business tapas joint!

Here's as close as we get, in Reston, to an awesome paparazzi shot: This cake, created for last weekend's celebration of Reston's 45th anniversary and Bob Simon's 95th birthday delighted Simon and Congressman Gerry Connolly, the "Bennifer" or maybe the "Brangelina" of the Reston social scene, or maybe not. Notice how the unidentified cake-cutter is fulfilling the unrealized dream of razing a building so cars zipping by on Baron Cameron can get an unfettered view of the lake. For more "exciting" photos, click here.

Brown's Chapel Rec Center: Same Song, Different Verse

Now that it looks like the Reston Association won't be buying a shiny new headquarters building anytime soon, we can all relax and not worry about anyone trying to build an awesome massive new $65 million rec center right next to one of the few historic buildings in Reston, right?

Maybe the folks at the Reston Community Center don't read the newspaper, because that's exactly what they're planning, right down to the fun referendum process that's required since the facility would be paid for by that Small Tax District we Restonians are fortunate enough to be part of.

RCC and RA are working to form conceptual plans for a possible indoor recreation facility to be built at Brown's Chapel Park. Leila Gordon, executive director of RCC, said a joint task force is considering a building that would be between 125,000 and 170,000 square feet with costs ranging from $45 million to $65 million. The building may include up to eight indoor tennis courts, a 50-meter pool, classrooms and a full-size gym.

Gordon said the task force has been looking at the Brown's Chapel Park as a possible site for the building because RA owns the property and it is zoned to support the use. After the study is finished information will be presented to the community for feedback, she said. "We believe most of the community will want this and it can be supported," Gordon said. The project would be supported by a capital bond and would require a referendum, she said.

Here we go again! Anyhoo, the folks who live in a nearby cluster are all up in arms for some crazy reason, saying the process "seems secretive," all because no one said anything about it to them or anyone else. You know how people can overreact!

Michael Rierson, president of the Newport Shores Cluster Association said the cluster board met Tuesday to discuss its position on the facility. He said a top concern is that conceptual plans are being worked on and his cluster was not notified of the process even though their homes are in close proximity. Rierson said not being notified made the process seem secretive.

Rierson said when he began to hear rumors a few weeks ago he wanted to make sure his neighbors were getting the correct information. He said he was told that RCC and RA are in the early part of the process but was alarmed when a neighbor sent him copies of conceptual plans. He said they showed what he considered to be beyond conceptual drawings and felt betrayed. "It's a large structure and the closest home in the cluster is 86 feet away," he said.

The editor of the Observer actually did something that newspapers should do more often, instead of leaving the dirty work to filthy vagrant "web-loggers" who use the word "awesome" too much -- he took both groups to the woodshed.

Leila Gordon, executive director of RCC, said no decisions have been made about the project yet, but she's wrong. A decision was made that the land near Brown's Chapel would be a suitable location for such a project. Decisions were made to reach a concept of what the proposed building would look like and how big it would be. A decision was made to hire a consulting firm to advise the planners on what could and should be built. A task force has been meeting for some months on the project, although those meetings have been conducted out of the public eye.

People are right to be upset. All residents of Reston may be interested to learn that RCC, which is funded by Small Tax District #5 made up primarily of Reston residents, is contemplating spending as much as $65 million on a very large new recreational facility.

It seems like RA and RCC have privately reached agreement on what the community needs and where it should be built, and they were waiting to consult with the public until they had most of the important decisions already made. A better approach is to involve everyone from the beginning in determining what future needs will be and how they should be addressed.

Oh, snap! Anyhoo, now a bunch of public meetings have been scheduled, what with the cat out of the bag and all.

A May 18 meeting has been scheduled at RCC Lake Anne at 7:30 p.m. for the residents of the Newport Shores Cluster Association. A meeting with the boards of RCC and RA and the joint task force will be held June 1 at 6:30 p.m. at RCC Hunters Woods. On June 15 RCC will hold its annual hearing for programs and budget at 7 p.m. at RCC Hunters Woods.

On the bright side, if this facility does get built, there's probably room for the RA to put its extra filing cabinets in the basement or locker room or whatnot.

This Week in Crime: A Big Pile of Sad

• Acting Freddie Mac CFO David Kellermann was found dead in his home in Hunter Mills Estates outside of Reston early Wednesday morning. Police suspect suicide.

• Among six men arrested by Fairfax County police in a recent cybersex sting was a 26-year-old man from Cedar Hollow Way in Reston. Arrested March 6, he was charged with two counts of use of a communication system to solicit sex from a minor, attempted indecent liberties with a minor, and carnal knowledge of a minor. Believe it or not, the other suspects' mug shots are far creepier.

• Three upstanding 14-year-olds from Reston and Herndon were charged with setting fires at the Hidden Creek Country Club in Reston on March 21. "The fire caused minimum damage to the landscaping," fire officials said, so thank goodness for that.

• Marysusan Giguere was sentenced to eight years in prison for the March 2008 slaying of her husband, Ronald K. Giguere, 60. The couple had been married for 25 years and lived with their two sons in a home on Crowell Road near Reston, where she famously spray-painted an angry diatribe about her husband's use of pornography on the driveway before the murder took place. "Police found no evidence of pornography in the house," the Washington Post feels compelled to tell us, so thanks for that.

• In perhaps the saddest robbery attempt we've seen to date, police arrested a 27-year-old for attempting to steal a bike from an 11-year-old and his father (PDF) after he jumped out of a moving truck in Fox Mill. WTF?

Treepocalypse Now: The March of the Hobbits

With the Snakeden reach nearly completely napalmed restored, the tree-lovin' folks at WSSI held a "pre-design walk" along Glade Stream this past weekend to discuss the next phase of the ongoing streambed restoration project, which has been entirely uneventful and well-received by a grateful Reston constituency. Consider it an open house, or an open woods, maybe, and our favorite correspondent, the Peasant from Less Sought After South Reston, was there to provide LIVE TEAM COVERAGE of the whole sordid affair. Here, scrawled on a series of leaves plucked from the last standing tree within 100 yards of Snakeden, is his dispatch:

Dressed in a non-DRB approved camouflage pattern of white stones tastefully set off against a red mulch background, The Peasant skillfully blends in with fellow South Reston tree-huggers for a three-hour cram session on hydraulic engineering and some new-fangled discipline called "benthics" that apparently refers to all them creepy little critters living on the bottom of a body of water.

As we mull around the campfire ring off of Soapstone on a beautiful spring morning in anticipation of the event, The Peasant soon realizes that the ambience is eerily reminiscent of those early scenes from "The Lord of the Rings" where happy hobbits hobnob in Hobbiton. We are greeted by our version of Gandalf, WSSI's Mike Rolband, who, in lieu of Gandalf's robes and pointy wizard's hat, is attired in natty camo pants and baseball cap. Soon enough, Wizard Mike leads our assembled contingent -- The Fellowship of the Campfire Ring, so to speak -- of 50 middle-aged, middle class hobbits (a few of whom looked like they actually should have been heading instead to the upcoming 40th anniversary of Woodstock) on our magical mystery tour of Reach 5. To keep any rowdy hobbits among us from misbehaving, WSSI brings along two dogs representing breeds known to inspire fear and terror. No, we are not talking about a Doberman and a Rottweiler, but rather a golden retriever and a golden doodle.

First stop is the proposed staging area in the woods just east of Soapstone for the heavy equipment and materials. Guarding the entrance to this area is, of all things, a deer skeleton (the gardeners among us assembled hobbits who have been terrorized by Bambi and Thumper's jihadi raids on our landscaping exult in silent hosannas at the sight of this dead four-legged terrorist). There is some discussion here as well of "depressed culverts" -- maybe spiking the storm runoff with some Prozac will help lift the culverts out of their funk? The Fellowship then continues east along the dirt path over the sewer line in what might aptly be termed a trek over dreck. As the Fellowship plods along, The Peasant cannot help but notice that many fellow tree-huggers are incapable of keeping to the dirt path and instead walk on either side of it, in the process trampling several hundred little ferns who are screaming for their lives. All this trampling in the name of protecting Mother Nature!

At the end of our trek we reach what WSSI referred to as "the beaver area". One wonders what newly testosterone-ized 13-year old boys could do with this term, but being mature adults we will not touch this with a 10-foot pole (or a Hungarian or Slovak, for that matter). Nevertheless, "the beaver area", named in honor of the now-departed and orthodontically-challenged critters who several years back turned a wooded area into a mosquito-infested swamp that would not look out of place in Mordor, provokes the only true dispute of the day. When one resident whose house overlooks Reston's version of the Joisey Meadowlands suggests it be drained, she is given a literal and enthusiastic thumbs-down from a granola-crunching granny standing nearby. Granola Crunching Granny, in turn, is subjected to one of several tirades we are treated to that morning from a certain Mr. Know-It-All, whom we suspect is one of those hobbits who has taken a wrong turn on his way back to Woodstock. Mr. Know-It-All even expounds on the best ways to kill those pesky little varmints, much to the horror of Granola Crunching Granny. Wizard Mike adroitly ends the squabbling among the hobbits by stating as only a wise wizard could, "I don't control the beavers."

As we make the return trip back to Hobbiton, Wizard Mike explains that the entire streambed will have to be lined with giant rocks in order to meet Army Corps of Engineers standards, a fact that does not amuse some of the assembled hobbits who clearly disapprove of obese boulders. However, in the spirit of Treebeard the Ent, he offers reassurances that WSSI will not pull a clear-cutting here worthy of the Snakeden Blitzkrieg that made even Amazonian deforesters, er, loggers, jealous. Rather, WSSI will take down as few trees of the 2,513 trees (yes, they counted) in this area as possible, sparing the specimen trees and those home to such feathered friends as the resident barred owls who somehow manage to nest there without paying their annual RA assessment.

Snark aside, The Peasant is impressed that A) WSSI seems to have learned from the Snakeden fiasco; B) Wizard Mike genuinely seems to have heard community concerns; and C) the Wizard knows his stuff. If all goes well, the entire Glade restoration to Twin Branches will be finished by summer 2010.

And then, Sought After North Reston, it will be YOUR turn. Colvin Run -- you're next!

He's right, as can be seen by this terrifying WSSI map that shows the areas of Colvin Run which will be subjected to nuclear winter in the near future. In the meantime, here's an artist's conception of what the remediated Glade reach will look like following the streambed restoration:

RA Headquarters Referendum: No Shiny New Building, Filing Cabinets For Now (We Think)

You people scare us sometimes! Just minutes after we posted a diatribe about the lack of information about the results of the awesome Reston Association headquarters referendum, one of our many anonymous commenters posted what is purported to be the official tally. We don't know if this came from a mole deep within RA headquarters who was frantically hitting the reload button on his or her woefully underpowered Internet connection at work waiting for us to mention this, one of the aforementioned reporters who gets paid way too little to attend to these details, or a civic-minded individual, so we have no idea if these are the real numbers -- but really, why would someone go to the trouble of making them up?

Anyhoo, the ayes had it -- or at least they would have, if the referendum had made quorum. Which, as predicted, it didn't.

The results of the Reston Association 2009 Headquarters Facility Referendum announced tonight are as follows:

Total Potential Voters (properties) = 17,311
30% quorum required = 5193
Votes received = 5022
Referendum is 171 votes short of required quorum.

117 ballots declared INVALID
2474 votes FOR
2431 votes AGAINST.

Please see that attached BDO Seidman LLP report for full details.

Reston Association will not move forward on this referendum at this time.
Reston Association will look to staff to work with Cresa Partners to find a facility to lease.
Reston Association has stated that all inquiries re: lease actions be directed to CEO Milton Mathews.

There you have it. We're just curious what it took for a ballot to be declared INVALID. Did people mail tea bags in with their ballots or something?

Update: It turns out that just minutes after we posted our initial diatribe about the referendum, RA President Robin Smyers updated her own filthy "web-log" with the results. COINCIDENCE? Yes, almost certainly. In all seriousness, we've mocked RA's attempts at blogging before (not that this site is any great shakes), but we're pleased to see they're attempting to use new ways to communicate in a timely fashion, particularly since it was the lack of a quorum that sank this shiny proposal. Now fix that "administrator account" byline. It looks bad.

This Week in Crime: Police seek witnesses to Reston murder

Fairfax County Police are looking for two possible witnesses to Saturday night's murder of a 26-year-old Reston man on a bike path near Colt's Neck Road.

Fairfax police want to talk to a blonde woman and a man who may know something about a murder mystery.

Sources say 26-year-old Jose Aguilar was found dead along a Reston bike trail over the weekend and so far, the woman and man are the only known witnesses.

"Detectives are anxious to identify and talk to those folks to see what, if anything, they may have seen or know," said Officer Don Gotthardt of the Fairfax County Police Department.

According to police, here's the description of the potential witnesses:

One subject is described as a Hispanic male, 17 to 20 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, with a slight mustache. He has black hair below his ears and big, dark eyes. He was wearing black, baggy pants and a white, baggy shirt. A second subject is described as a white female, 17 to 20 years old, with long, straight, blonde hair.

Police told Channel 7 that they do not believe the muder was gang-related, much to the disappointment of anonymous commenters everywhere. By the way, good luck with the embedded video below, the audio of which -- when it actually works -- sounds like it was broadcast from the dark side of the moon via CB radio.

RA Headquarters Referendum: Your Guess is as Good as Ours

Here's the problem with running a filthy "web-log," as opposed to a legitimate news organization that pays something called "reporters" minimum wage to attend boring meetings and take notes that are ultimately printed on newsprint before being recycled or used to line a birdcage or whatnot: The Reston Association probably announced the results of its awesome headquarters referendum during a "special" meeting on Monday night, but try as we might, we can't get any information about what happened. Not that we tried much harder than Googling "awesome Reston HQ +filing cabinets," of course, but you get the idea.

We're guessing by the fact that we haven't seen a phalanx of construction cranes converging around Isaac Newton Square that it didn't pass or meet its quorum, but who knows. We're fond of Bob Simon's modest proposal, the one where they keep leasing for a while and maybe buy a filing cabinet or two at Office Depot, then help jumpstart Lake Anne's awesome revitalization by building the headquarters there, thereby ensuring that future microwaved tapas joints will be economically viable.

But we digress. You'd think that RA would post the results of the referendum on its awesome redesigned Web site, which has a filthy "web-log" of its own, but the most recent minutes are from January and the "news releases" section is as empty as Lake Anne Village Center on a rainy afternoon. All joking aside, an official site in the midst of the Dulles "high-tech corridor" (AOL!) should be able to do better. As for those news organizations with their fancy reporters and notepads? Maybe when their newsprint editions wind up sitting in puddles in our driveway later in the week, we'll know for sure.

Either that, or some smart-alec will post a comment within 30 seconds of this posting going live, and we'll all know. Either way's good.

This Week in Crime: Another week, another murder

Fairfax County's fourth murder of the year took place in Reston late Saturday night, when the body of a 26-year-old Reston man was found on a bike path near Colt's Neck Road.

Police are investigating a suspected homicide in Reston.

Police were summoned to the 2200 block of Colts Neck Road on Saturday, April 18 shortly before midnight for the report of a suspicious person.

Responding officers located the body of a male, with trauma to the upper body, near a bike path between Colts Neck Road and Reston Parkway.

The victim has been identified as Jose Luis Ordones Aguilar, 26, of Reston.

A police helicopter and K-9 units were sent to the area. Detectives and crime scene technicians remained on the scene Sunday as the investigation continues.

A lively -- and only vaguely racist! -- discussion about the crime, based primarily on the victim's surname, is taking place on the Washington Post site. If the enlightened commenters there are to be believed, Lou Dobbs is a key suspect.

Flashback Monday: The Talk of the Town

The reviews are in, and Reston is a hit! In the years after Reston's founding, it got attention from such literary powerhouses as Reader's Digest and Holiday, which called the New Town (tm) "a dream turned into mortar." But that's not all! Time raved about its "handsome modern architecture and quality construction found in few developments today" (just tell that to someone trying to find any two surfaces that still meet at a 90-degree angle in one of those New Townhouses), while American Engineer predicted it would "attract and hold valuable skilled employees" (just tell that to the folks who work for Sprint Nextel, whose corporate bosses found the cornfield allure of Kansas far more irresistible.) But in a sign at how far the basic literary skills of the average newsmagazine reader have fallen since the 1960s, Businessweek attempted a pun that would fall on deaf ears today: "Backed by the drive and fortune of New York real estate man Robert E. Simon, Reston... is, so to speak, a simon-pure new tone, the only one with true lineal connections to the movement."

Get it? Simon -- simon pure? Actually, we don't either. Time to find a dictionary.

Breaking: Missing Reston Woman, Kids Found Safe in Fluvanna County

A Reston woman who disappeared with her two children last week was found by police Friday afternoon in Central Virginia, where she was staying with friends.

Happy 45th/95th, Reston/Bob Simon!

Don't forget this Saturday is a Very Special Founder's Day, during which Reston will celebrate its 45th anniversary of being carved out of the wilds of Northern Virginia by Bob Simon, who celebrates his 95th birthday that same day. Which is seriously awesome, considering he had the wherewithal to decamp to some fancy beachfront manse decades ago but instead has chosen to spend his golden years attending bizarre public hearings and advocating for simple solutions to complex problems.

Reston Association President Robin Smyers said many people get excited about big anniversaries but she said Reston's anniversary coinciding with Simon's 95th birthday is an incredible milestone. "He still brings an energy and enthusiasm to the community that we should all be lucky to have if we're half his age," she said.

Smyers said Simon is an inspiration and role model to the community and has shown that through his level of involvement and commitment, ensuring that Reston succeeds as a community. She said the principles Simon founded Reston on are still relevant and have not been diminished during the area's growth. "There's still the love of the community, the desire to always make us a better community," she said.

Anyhoo, be sure to come to all the festivities, which at some point include a "Lake Anne-themed cake" (we're wondering if it'll be algae flavored with the full text of a DRB violation letter written in earth-toned frosting) and some fancy evening gala where attendees will receive the souvenir of Reston pictured above. We're not exactly sure what it is, but it looks like it would really bring an earth-toned, shag-carpeted room adorned with wood paneling and metallic wallpaper together quite nicely.

This Week in Crime: Perhaps the Most Hilarious Surveillance Cam Shot Ever

We thought the surveillance cam shots of Reston's athletic but plan-adverse serial bank robber were awesome, but that was until we saw this photo of some dude who stole a bunch of crap from the Sport and Health Club in Isaac Newton Square.

This image -- to dismissively call it a "photo" would be to greatly diminish its textual impact, like calling the Mona Lisa "a painting" -- is a masterpiece of light and shadow, with the perspective not only intriguing to the eye, but a nearly technically perfect study of the effects of chiriascuro. Taken as a single iconic entity, this pixelated work of art leads us to reconsider our preconceived notions about "surveillance" -- who's really watching who? And since he stole a bunch of other stuff, why didn't he steal the security camera?

Anyhoo, here are the ugly details:

Fairfax County Crime Solvers is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the man responsible for larcenies at a health club in Reston. On Saturday, February 21 between 1 and 2 p.m. a man forced open lockers at the Sport and Health Club, located at 11445 Isaac Newton Square. He took numerous items to include an iPod, BlackBerry, heart monitor, cellular phone, credit cards and cash. The suspect used several of the credit cards later at an ATM and stole more than $2,400.

Surveillance cameras captured the suspect and police are hopeful someone will recognize him. He is described as black, 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall and between 230 and 250 pounds. He has brown eyes, a shaved head and a mustache.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers by phone at 1-866-411-TIPS(8477), e-mail at www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES(274637).

Of course, this happened back on Feb. 21, so that iPod and Blackberry are likely long gone by now. But hey! No rush on getting the word out or anything -- it's not like anyone might need that heart monitor or anything.

Reston Tea Party: One More Time Into the Breach

Another day and another $0.07 of oppressive federal income tax later, we just cannot leave this whole awesome Reston Tea Party thing alone! WHAT IS WRONG WITH US?

Fortunately, our awesome, usually anonymous commenters managed to come up with the most brilliant statement yet about the tea party.

As I was watching the YouTube video of this event, I realized that if you substituted "Reston Association" for "British government", "Reston residents" for "colonial patriots", and "annual assessment" for "tax on tea", the meaning of the speech would be exactly the same and the video would still make perfect sense. In fact I'm gathering up right now my fair trade, organically grown, New Age flavor tea bags to dump them on the doorstep of 1930 Isaac Newton Square! And instead of dressing up as an American Indian -- or before the PC police come after me, should I say Native American -- I plan to come dressed as Bob Simon.

We seriously love you guys. Meanwhile, here's what the organizers had to say about the event, on that filthy "web-log" they call the Book of Faces, or whatever.


No, really. After making jokes about liberals being baby killers, they're including the unborn in their crowd counts. It's also nice to know we're in such good company as the Huffington Post and Daily Kos. In fact, we're all getting together this weekend to attend a secret bloggers meeting, then gay marry a cat and a dog to each other. For fun.

Update: A fun gallery of pictures from the tea party plus another backhanded complement can be found here.

This Week in Crime: A Grab Bag of Inappropriate Behavior

People stealing beer and gold chains! A creepy pervert hanging out at the gas station! All in all, it's just another week in Reston (PDF):

A 27-year-old Reston woman was reportedly touched inappropriately by a stranger on Friday, April 3. The woman was sitting in the passenger seat of a car parked at a gas station in the 12100 block of Sunset Hills Road around 11:05 p.m. A man approached the window and knocked. The woman opened the window and the two spoke briefly. The man reached in the car for a cigarette and allegedly touched the woman inappropriately two times. The man left the gas station and the victim reported the incident a short time later from her home. The suspect was described as white, in his late 20s to early 30s. He was about 5 feet 10 inches tall and 190 pounds with blond hair. He was wearing a gray, hooded sweat shirt.

Police responded to a robbery on Friday, April 3. A 26-year-old Reston man was on a bike path between Colts Neck Road and Reston Parkway around 11:30 p.m. when four teenage boys approached him. One of them asked for a beer. As the victim retrieved a beer, one suspect struck him in the face, knocking him to the ground. The suspects took money and beer from the victim and fled on foot. The victim did not require medical attention. The four suspects could only be described as black, in their teens.

A 39-year-old Reston man was robbed on Sunday, April 5 just after midnight. Around 12:02 a.m. the man was walking down a pathway near the 2400 block of Pyrenees Court when he saw two men walking toward him. As they passed each other, one suspect grabbed the victim while the other took a gold chain from his neck. Both suspects fled on foot; the victim did not require medical attention. Both suspects were described as Hispanic, in their 20s. They were about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 120 pounds and both wore a white hoodie and dark pants.

Our advice? Stay off the pathways while carrying beer and wearing gold chains.

Lest this litany of man's inhumanity to man be too much of of a downer, we'll point out that the last sobriety checkpoint conducted in Reston last weekend yielded a whopping zero DUI arrests. Maybe that's because everyone's hitting the bike trails with six-packs in hand.

Reston Tea Party: You Damn Kids Get Off My Lawn!

No, this isn’t an advance clip from tonight’s episode of The Office. Hopefully you decided to hold off on filing your income taxes last night, because as a result of a bunch of people standing in a rain-swept field in Reston, the federal government has abolished all income taxes, forever, and President Obama has been turned over to the Hague as a war criminal. Good job, gang!

The Reston Tea Party was moved at the last minute from Lake Anne Village Center to the soccer fields at Baron Cameron, so you know who to blame if Junior slips on a tea bag during this weekend’s soccer games. You know it’s going to be a fun event when in the opening lines of the featured speaker’s remarks refer to this humble site as a “lefty blog,” despite our fearless opposition to nekkid community theatre, which all liberals are required by law to love upon pain of immediate extradition to Texas. It’s sort of a litmus test.

Despite a brazen attempt to disrupt the event by the above-pictured treasonous, left-leaning umbrella, the rest of the speech was a history lecture about how some filthy Colonial types complained about tea or something on their 1700-era “web-logs” (those town crier guys with bells and sandwich boards), plus a few cute offhand comments from the crowd about liberals "killing babies" for comic relief, the end.

On Tax Day, That's Tea, Not Brown Algae in Lake Anne

As the Obama administration continues its hope-fueled reign of terror, a few brave men and women remain unbowed, willing to risk all to protest creeping socialism and nekkid community theater performances and whatnot. And despite Reston's reputation as a haven for electric car-drivin', organic food-eatin' liberals, a "Tax Day Tea Party" will be held from 6:30-8pm tonight at the Lake Anne Village Center.

The event even has its own awesome Facebook page, where as of Tuesday night, 168 brave patriots had flaunted the draconian Big Brother policies of Barack Obama, the Reston Association and the dreaded 3-way stop intersection outside the plaza to say, yes, we will mill around awkwardly in front of the closed Tavern on the Lake, wondering why microwaved tapas wasn't a big hit. Here's one of them:


The "we" in "WE SURROUND THEM" includes the likes of the Arlington County Taxpayers Association, Fairfax County Taxpayers Association, Loudoun Taxpayers For Accountable Government, American Conservative Party, Republican Liberty Caucus, Libertarian Party, Campaign For Liberty, and the Constitution Party. Someone named Leslie Carbone, who wrote a book called "Slaying Leviathan: The Moral Case for Tax Reform," which we assume is some sort of Ayn Randian fantasy, only maybe with giants and swords and D&D type stuff, will host, and hopefully toss the first symbolic Tea Bag of Oppression into Lake Anne, where it will immediately become unrecognizable amid the murky depths.

Look. We're no fan of paying income taxes on the $1.67 in ad revenue this filthy web-log brings in, but you don't see us grabbing packs of Lipton's and throwing them at the statue of Bob Simon. But we will seriously pay the first person who sends us a picture of a person holding a sign saying "NO FULL MONTY" at the "party." We might even vote for Ron Paul next time around!

This Week in Crime: Endangered Mother Now Charged With Child Abduction

After expressing concern about a missing and 'endangered' Reston woman, police are now seeking her for abducting her children.

Meanwhile, the discussion about this case in a previous post has evolved into a charming little flame war, the end.

Update: A vigil was held Tuesday night, and there's more from her friends and relatives
As we read an even nastier flame war about this case and the principals involved -- this one on a legitimate news site that managed to misspell West's name -- we're basically tired of all of these people. Except for the kids, who of course, are the ones really in trouble, and who nobody seems to worry about as they weigh in on both parents.

Flashback Monday: On the Boardwalk, Down By the Sea Algae-Choked Lake

This attractive vista is what greeted visitors to Reston in 1964 or thereabouts, where they were regaled by this impressive "sea wall" in a field of mud. Perhaps Reston's always environmentally conscious residents wanted to get a leg up on global warming, envisioning the day that the ocean would come to Reston, Sunrise Valley Drive would be renamed Boardwalk and all those brown, low-rise association buildings replaced with taffy shoppes and guess-your-weight stands and maybe one of those rickety roller coasters or some juggling flamethrower or whatnot.

Or maybe it was just a contraption to hold in Lake Anne so it could power the New Town's awesome jet-age air conditioning. And until the Atlantic makes its way here, we'll just have to settle for Boardwalk Fries in Herndon.

This Week in Crime: 19-Year-Old Murdered in Herndon/Fox Mill

A 17-year-old Fox Mill resident has been charged in the murder of his 19-year-old girlfriend.

A 17-year-old has been arrested in connection with the death of his girlfriend, Fairfax County police said.

Police charged the teenager with homicide Sunday after his 19-year-old girlfriend, Siobhan Russell, was found in the Herndon area with a fatal stab wound to her upper body.

The two were arguing in the boyfriend's home in the 12700 block of Magna Carta Road when the stabbing occurred, police said.

Police were contacted at about 4:30 p.m. by the young man's father, who was in the house at the time, Officer Ray Roberts said.

Roberts said the boyfriend is being charged as a juvenile, but he is expected to be charged as an adult.

The 17-year-old, reportedly a high school dropout, apparently tried to escape on his motorcycle, but an errant garage door got in the way, as you'll see at about 0:58 of the video below.

There's nothing at all funny about this story, so we won't even bother with the usual comical photo of an animal wearing clothes.

Reston Road Rules: Lawyers Road to go on 'Road Diet,' be Transformed into Haven for Spandex-Wearning Cyclists

The anti-car hippies at the Virginia Department of Transportation want to transform Lawyers Road into an awesome multi-lane bicycle trail -- with a little extra space left over for automobile traffic. It's all part of what VDOT calls a "road diet," which sounds a lot like other fad weight-loss schemes, only with less grapefruit and roughage.

There is a proposal to reduce the 4-lane section of Lawyers Road between Reston Parkway and Myrtle Lane from 4 to 3 motor vehicle lanes and create 2 bicycle lanes. The center motor vehicle lane would be used for left turns. This proposal would allow for the road to be resurfaced and re-marked in the same project. Lawyers Road is scheduled to be resurfaced this year.

According to Virginia Department of Transportation, the lane changes would make the road safer. VDOT statistics indicate there were 15 preventable crashes along this stretch of Lawyers Road between 2005 and 2007.

Of course the road will be safer if drivers are discouraged from using it! You can review some awesome schematics courtesy of VDOT here, about which our favorite correspondent, the Peasant from Less Sought After South Reston, had this to say:

Please check out the following link to see what the future holds in store for Lawyers Road, a.k.a. the "Reston Parkway To Maple Avenue Kill Yourself Racing To Get That Last Parking Slot At The Vienna Metro Speedway":

Even if we live in the Dulles High-Tech Corridor,we have had some trouble opening this link on occasion. But if you can open it, you will find an at-times bizarre PowerPoint set of graphics and illustrations. In essence, VDOT appears to be floating the idea of turning our version of the Champs Elysees from a four-lane road into a three-lane road (middle lane of course being a turn lane from Lawyers into those residential streets where the South Reston peasantry live -- you know, not all of us can afford the high-quality particle board McMansions of Loudon County) complete with...bike lanes!

Now the irony is wonderful in that VDOT has widened Ox Road, is widening the Virginia stretch of the Beltway, and would like to widen I-66. No doubt local commuters, who can be seen each morning and each evening racing their trophy jalopies along Lawyers Road at breakneck speed to and from their trophy wives, will be thrilled beyond words at seeing their currently available two lanes in essence shrunk to one lane. I particularly like the PowerPoint slide that confidently asserts one of the advantages of this so-called "road diet" program (road diet -- isn't that what poor mountaineers like Jed call the roadkill deer they lug home for suppa?) will be, and I quote, "reduction in fastest speeds". Given the typical Northern Virginia road rage, isn't it perhaps more likely that when Reston's version of Kyle Busch finally gets to an open stretch of Lawyers Road, he will be so frustrated with the traffic back-up he has just endured on his new one-lane commute that, if anything, he will rev it up to breakneck speed to make up for lost time?

A public hearing will be held next Wednesday from 7-9pm at Langston Hughes Middle School. Bring your bike helmets or your favorite NASCAR memorabilia and sit on the appropriate side of the aisle.

This Week in Crime: Watch for Reston's 'Endangered Family'

Police are looking for a 37-year-old Reston woman and her two young children. A handgun and psychopharmaceuticals may be involved, so the term "endangered" probably has merit.

Shameless Self-Promotion and Another 15 Minutes of Fame, Thanks to Washingtonian

Our earth-toned Reston manse must have been #11 of the "10 Great Homes" profiled in this month's Washingtonian, but this site somehow got honored as one of the magazine's "Best Blogs in Washington." We have the dubious honor of being the only local blog that isn't in a neighborhood us God-fearing outside-the-Beltway suburbanites 1) have never heard of (The Atlas District?) or 2) are afraid to visit (Petworth?)

So hooray. If you're morbidly curious, you can click back to a Washingtonian interview with some filthy hobo who claims to have some association with this site.

Lake Anne Revitalization Approved, So Bring on the 99-Story Condos

Despite overwrought trepidation that Reston would turn overnight into "another Manhattan," only with fewer polyglot hot dog vendors on street corners, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved an awesome redevelopment plan to transform the sleepy area into a bustling urban core, assuming this wacky global slowdown subsides and developers become interested in projects more ambitious than cardboard boxes under freeway overpasses.

In all, the amendment allows the addition of a total of 1,495 to 1,655 residential units, 63,000 to 81,000 square feet of retail space and 225,000 to 235,000 square feet of office space to the Lake Anne Village Center area.

Sweet! With a population of 8.3 million in NYC, Reston is right on track to become another Manhattan -- assuming 5,021.276 people move into each one of those 1,655 residential units. It could happen, folks!

The revised plan eliminates a wacky suggestion to raze buildings to let people zipping by on Baron Cameron Avenue see the lake, and rejiggers some of the commercial and affordable housing requirements, though the NIMBY folks will likely still be annoyed.

The commission reduced the amount of "non-residential development" allowed on the parcel where the Crescent Apartments stand, from 4,000 to 2,000 square feet or, under the "full consolidation" option, from 8,000 to 4,000 square feet.

The amount of non-residential development was reduced in order to keep new businesses in the development from drawing customers away from Washington Plaza. The purpose of the amendment is to bring more people to the historic plaza, where businesses have been dying off for lack of traffic.

The Planning Commission also removed language instructing that the Millennium Bank at the main entrance to the plaza be moved. The idea of moving the bank was to open up visibility to the plaza, but many, including the Architectural Review Board and Reston founder Bob Simon, opposed the move, saying the current design, with a narrow entrance leading to the open plaza and lake, was intentional and pleasing.

Also, the recommendation on civic uses became a prescription for "complimentary non-residential uses" and was expanded to include talk of a hotel and cinema. A call for "excellent design and architecture" and interactive public art was added to the urban design recommendations. Many other minor changes were also made.

The commission had also requested that staff work out a way for the burden of affordable housing to be shared more equitably. Originally, the proposal was to require that Fellowship Square, which provides housing for elderly citizens of limited means, retain all of its 240 affordable dwelling units. Little was to be added to the maximum number of dwelling units allowed on the Fellowship Square parcel unless the full consolidation was attained.

Before passing the amendment Monday, the Board of Supervisors voted to change the text to say the total number of affordable dwelling units at Lake Anne was to remain constant but could be redistributed among the various land parcels.

Of course, all these awesome plans await one thing.

Now, Lake Anne only needs a developer, or developers, interested in working with the county on a rezoning to realize the new plan.

Or maybe a certain homeowner association looking for space to build an awesome new headquarters, complete with a full complement of filing cabinets and whatnot?

This Week in Crime: Sexual Assault on Soapstone, Plus the (Near) Robbery of the Century

An 18-year-old Reston man was arrested for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old acquaintance.

On Wednesday, April 1, a 15-year-old girl from the Reston area reported an alleged sexual assault that occurred the night before. The teenager was walking with an acquaintance along a path in the 2300 block of Soapstone Drive around 10:30 p.m. The acquaintance allegedly forced the victim off the path and assaulted her. The victim was treated for non life-threatening injuries at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

Detectives obtained warrants for the suspect and a lookout was broadcasted. Officers located the suspect Friday evening, April 3, on a bike path near Shire Court in Reston.

The suspect was arrested and transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. He was charged with rape and two counts of sodomy.

Charming story. Also, some kids attempted to rob a gift shop in the Reston Town Center Hyatt, but their intricately plotted scheme was foiled when an unanticipated wrinkle arose -- the clerk told them to get lost.

A 65-year-old Reston-area man was the victim of an attempted robbery while working on Saturday, March 28. Around 7:43 p.m. two teenage boys entered the Haber Gift Shop, located inside the Hyatt Hotel at 1800 Presidents Street. They approached the employee at the counter and demanded money. When the victim did not comply, the suspects fled out the front of the store. The victim was not injured. Both suspects were described as black, 16 to 18 years old. They were about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 160 pounds. They were wearing hooded sweat shirts and dark-colored pants.

Guess they didn't have a plan B.

Reston's Vibrant Economy Part 39: Sprint, Sallie Mae Hiring -- Just Not Here

If you've recently lost your high-tech "information economy" job (selling 70-year variable rate mortgages during which homeowners were given large stacks of small denomination bills to move into particleboard McMansions), fear not. Two pillars of the Reston business economy are hiring! All you'll have to do is pack your bags and move to such exciting locales as Hampton, Virginia, or Fishers, Indiana, because that's where the new jobs are. Oh, and you'll probably have to take a minor pay cut, as they're basically call center jobs. But hey -- jobs! Yes we can!

After moving its headquarters to Kansas and consolidating operations here, corn fritter and Footloose-loving Sprint Nextel is actually adding jobs in Virginia. Just not this part of Virginia:

Sprint (NYSE: S) announced Monday that it is looking for more workers at its Hampton Contact Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Sprint, which announced last month that it would close a network operations center in Reston and eliminate 100 jobs, said the new jobs in Hampton will be added to the 700 employees now working at the contact center.

Meanwhile, in what sounds like a purely calculated move to gain sympathy, potty-mouth executive Albert Lord announced that Sallie Mae is moving its call centers back to the U.S. of A. from overseas locations. In your face, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines!

Sallie Mae said Monday that it will bring 2,000 jobs to the U.S. within the next 18 months as it shifts call center and other operations from overseas.

"The current economic environment has caused our communities to struggle with job losses. They need jobs, and we will put 2,000 of them into U.S. facilities as soon as we possibly can," Chief Executive Albert L. Lord said in a statement.

Aside from call center positions, the nation's largest private student lender will be looking for individuals to fill information technology and operations support roles. Sallie Mae runs facilities in 20 U.S. locations including Lynn Haven, Fla.; Fishers, Ind.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Killeen, Texas and Newark, Del.

And if the turnout for jobs at its Delaware operations center is any indication, Sallie Mae should brace for a large number of applicants for the new crop of positions. A job fair hosted by the Reston, Va.-based company in December for the Delaware site saw more than 800 attendees and at least 2,300 more apply online. The lender said at the time that it planned to hire 1,100 workers for the facility by the end of 2011.

Time to dust off those resumes. Either opportunity beats Targetville, that's for sure.

Flashback Monday: When Bratz ruled the world

The local media recently ran a wacky retrospective of last year's uneventful redistricting decision that led to an inexpensive lawsuit, civil discourse in public forums, and the use of a popular children's doll as a socioeconomic barometer. It seems like it was just yesterday!

It has been over a year since the Fairfax County School Board voted in favor of a controversial redistricting plan that placed more students at South Lakes High School due to smaller enrollment numbers at the school.

With the dust settled, members of the South Lakes High School community said the addition of the new students has made the student body noticeably larger and the process made the students, faculty and administration stronger. "I just think it's been a wonderful school year," said Principal Bruce Butler. He said the new students have transitioned well and truly become Seahawks.

Sofi Cahoon, the parent of a South Lakes freshman who was redistricted, said she was happy about the school board's decision at the time. "I was relieved it was over," she said. Though waiting for the outcome of the lawsuit supported by FairfaxCAPS also created tension, she said. Cahoon said at the time she and her family were anxious about not knowing where her son, Evan, might go to school, and many stude

Since beginning his high school career at South Lakes, Cahoon said her son is happy, involved, playing lacrosse and is doing well academically. "Things are going well for him," she said. Cahoon said many other parents she has spoken with who visited the school said they had a positive experience even if they chose to have their children attend other schools. She said while the redistricting was heated and there were uncomfortable situations, her family's experience has been positive.

Grace Bauer, a senior at South Lakes, said the experience last year was positive because of what the students were able to learn. She said the student body had to deal with pressure and criticisms of something they strongly believe in. "The students love the school," she said. "Dealing with that and being able to stand up to the parents that were saying things that were wrong or misconstrued was really cool and a leadership experience and a learning experience," Bauer said.

Butler said he agreed with the learning aspect of redistricting. "It was a leadership opportunity for students, and to have several hundred tours come through, it actually is very healthy for any institution but schools especially," he said. He said though many schools go through redistricting last year's was more unique. "It was a great opportunity to have the community rise together to welcome students that are now Seahawks, 100 percent Seahawks," he said.

Of course, it's all a memory now. After all, Barbie maker Mattel won its own frivolous lawsuit against the makers of Bratz last year, the end.

RA Headquarters Referendum: The Home(less) Stretch

As the April 10 deadline for the referendum on whether the RA should spend $15 million to buy an awesome new headquarters with hip unisex bathrooms like they had on that Ally McBeal show and space-age filing cabinets and whatnot draws near, there's been a full-court push to sell the referendum, including breathtaking TV shows and inspired blogging, all to try to win over some petty naysayers like these guys. Much like that one crappy album where KISS posed without their masks on the cover, the RA has even unveiled its super-secret consultants who helped it evaluate its space needs, the day after a blog post here pointed out they had declined to identify them. Coincidence? Yeah, probably. But anyway:

The consultants advising Reston Association on whether to buy, build or continue to lease its headquarters, said at a meeting March 26 that they based their advice to buy on their findings that RA needs more space to be most efficient.

Richard Meadows from CresaPartners said the consultants and RA discussed several options, including signing a short-term lease while RA purchases land and builds a new headquarters, and an option in which RA would purchase its current building. Meadows said bringing the current building up to modern standards would be too costly.

Meadows said CresaPartners has been working for RA since July 2008. The possibility of leasing another headquarters space was discussed in December. He said this is a "tenants market," and the firm completed cost analyses.

Wow. For a sizable consulting fee, we could have told them it was a "tenants market" and been home in time for lunch. So, Reston Founder Bob Simon and ARCH President Jerry Volloy, are you convinced yet?

Simon said he thinks the referendum will fail and RA should extend their current lease so they can build in the Lake Anne Village Center and help redevelop the area. He said he knows that RA's current building is a "badly designed" space and is aging badly. He said choosing any other option would be "irresponsible."

Alliance for Reston Clusters and Homeowners President Jerry Volloy, said when he was CEO of RA every time out-of-town ambassadors came to visit Reston the one place they wanted to see was Lake Anne. He said the plans for revitalization are nearly finished and RA could lead the efforts in revitalizing the center. Volloy said moving to Lake Anne would show "incredible leadership" and bring a legacy to RA's leaders.

Help jumpstart a much-needed revitalization at a time when private investment is utterly nonexistent lagging? That's so crazy, it just might work.

This Week in Crime: Child pornography charges dropped against Reston man

Reston native and Loudoun County assistant principal Ting-Yi Oei had all child pornography charges against him dropped, in a high-profile case that brings up issues about that "sexting" trend you keep hearing about on the Today Show and whatnot.

At the time of Oei's arrest, there was considerable sentiment among commenters to the Post site that he had been railroaded, and those people are back in force on their site. The whole sexting thing just creeps us out, frankly, so we don't really have a joke. Instead, here's a picture of two fully clothed dogs.

Reston gang activity up, ages down

So housing prices might still be falling, but there's one area where Reston is gaining ground: gang activity.

Recent search warrant affidavits culled from Fairfax Circuit Court repeatedly show suspected gang-related activity in all parts of the county, including Chantilly, Centreville, Herndon and especially Reston.

Last month, two Reston teens, 16 and 13, were questioned by police for their suspected involvement in activity believed to have been committed by members of the "18th Street" criminal street gang.

According to police, a student riding a public school bus to Dogwood Elementary School was assaulted by suspected gang members when he exited the bus on Glade Drive in Reston. Records state he was beaten with the "belt-buckle portion" of belts worn by the assailants.

Huh? Are there 17-year-olds going to Dogwood these days, or are gangs, apparently being shut out of the lucrative bank robbing business by our athletic but plan-averse serial robber, resorting to trying to grab kids' lunch money and Pokemon cards? Whatever the reason, Reston's so incredibly special the MS-13 reportedly sent one of their leaders to Reston last October to "represent," by which they mean "shoot people."

Last week, the leader of a local MS-13 gang was indicted in U.S. District Court for shooting two suspected rival 18th Street gang members and one innocent bystander in the same Reston neighborhood.

Court documents signed by FBI officials assert that MS-13 leader Dennis L. Gil Bernandez was intentionally sent directly to Reston from El Salvador because the northern Virginia arm of his gang was not "representing" properly and rival gangs were being allowed to populate the Reston area.

A court affidavit claims that Bernandez responded by shooting one suspected rival gang member at point-blank range and another twice in the back. A third man, who held up his hands and said he was not a gang member, was also shot by Bernandez after Bernandez first said, "I can't leave any evidence," according to the affidavit.

You can find more fun details on this longstanding beef on this blog.

Like everything else, we can thank the economy for this:

Task force members say that Northern Virginia's strong economy was partially responsible for keeping gang problems to a minimum in Fairfax County over the last few years.

But the economy has since taken a downturn, and its natural, positive effect on gang suppression may be likewise deteriorating. According to Summers, while violent gang crime recently dropped about 30 percent from its 2005 high point, overall gang crime in Northern Virginia is undeniably up.

Bob Bermingham, gang coordinator for Fairfax County, estimated that gang-related crime in the county alone rose approximately 7 percent from 2007 to 2008. "But we're still ahead of 2005," he said. "The numbers are still lower."

Unfortunately, the ages of those committing gang crimes also appear to be lower.

According to Virginia State Police Detective Eric Vega, also a member of the regional task force, the average age of a male gang member in Virginia is now 17, for a female, 14. Vega said that children typically start their gang involvement in schools.

Last week, seven Chantilly teenagers, some as young as 13, were charged with 18 gang-related crimes.

Gang-related arrests have also recently taken place at Oakton and Fairfax High School. There's really nothing funny about this story, so here's a picture of a chicken wearing a vest:

Reston's Vibrant Economy Part 38: AOL's loss is... well, our loss, too

Remember back in the bronze age of the Internet, when in order to read your favorite "web-log" you had to use a loud, screechy modem to try to connect to AOL, only you never could because the line was always busy? Well, as AOL's fortunes have faded, its giant office park near Dulles in Loudoun County has gotten a lot emptier, making it easier to get through the checkout lines at the Wegman's across the street. Now Rayethon is consolidating its Reston, Herndon and Falls Church operations into all that empty space, creating lots of empty space closer to home. As glass-half-full kinds of folks, we like to see this as "more options for the awesome new RA headquarters," but that's just us.

AOL has signed a 10-year agreement with Raytheon, a large government contractor specializing in defense and homeland security, to lease three office buildings and a portion of a fourth, on the east side of the tech company's Dulles campus.

Keith Little, a Raytheon spokesman, told me this morning that the company will consolidate its Northern Virginia operations, which are currently located in Falls Church, Reston and Herndon, and will move more than 1,500 employees to the Dulles campus in spring 2010.

AOL also plans to consolidate its remaining employees ("Bob," the guy who checks the blinking lights on the modem to make sure it's still working, and "Fred," who's in charge of business development, long-term strategy, content development, IT, revenue and advertising, as well as making sure the recycle bins are emptied every Friday), most likely into one very crowded cubicle.

Who's Hungry? A Children's Treasury of Mildly Alarming Restaurant Inspection Reports

Need to save money during this financial treepocalypse? Spend a little time browsing the health department restaurant inspection reports for Fairfax County, and you'll never be tempted to skip bringing a bag lunch to work again.

The health department descended on various and sundry Reston eateries during March, and... well, let's just say it could be worse. None had our favorite inspector phrase, "rodent harborage." Take it from us -- we know of what we speak, and that's a good thing. A very good thing.

Obi Sushi in Reston Town Center had seven "critical" violations. Apparently health inspectors weren't aware that the fish is supposed to be served raw. We kid, of course, but if you're a fan of sushi, you're not going to want to read the following paragraph:

CFM was able to provide parasite destruction letters for 2008. Please provide 2009 parasite destruction letters from your sushi fish vendors by 4/2/09.

Ew. We'll stick with the tempura. Oddly enough, the biggest issue they found involved the "cut melons at the lunch buffet." Suck on that, vegetarians!

The Westin Reston Heights had a total of five critical and six non-critical violations, including a broken dishawsher that wasn't actually cleaning utensils and the old reliable standby, "a food employee failed to wash her hands before putting on a clean pair of gloves." Not her fault, though:

Observed that sign or poster that notifies food employees to wash their hands is not provided at all handwashing sinks (including restroom hand sinks) used by food employees.

Paolo's Ristorante, which is Fancy Reston Town Center Speak for "Paul's Diner," was flagged with three critical violations, two of which had to do with mussels being improperly tagged. Our vote is to slap tags saying "gross" on them and move on, but that's just us.

Mama Woks had three critical violations, all of which were corrected during the visit. Here's the random ooggy comment:

Observed 3 soy sauce container lids in the hand sink. Corrective Action: A hand sink may not be used for any purpose other than hand washing.

Who doesn't exfoliate with a little soy sauce?

Lake Side Grill had two critical and one non-critical violation, including the lack of warnings about undercooked food on the menu and the lack of a cover to the trash can in the unisex bathroom.

But we've saved the worst for last. In the wake of being given a D- for its healthy, family friendly food, our beloved Macaroni Grill was slapped with two critical violations involving cooling and sanitizing issues. No way! Also, there "is no hand washing sign posted at the hand washing sink at the cook line." Maybe it was in Italian!

Oh, well. In the interest of being Fair and Balanced (tm), it's worth pointing out that health inspectors also visited Dinner Zen, BBQ Bandidas, CJL Enterprise and the Silver Diner in March, and found zero violations. All we can say is that if you run a place called "BBQ Bandidas" and you manage to have zero health violations, our hats are off to you.