The Town of Vienna is leading the way in Virginia with a newly conceived celebration of four amendments to the U.S. Constitution that enshrined the rights of people of color and women.
The town announced on Friday (March 12) that planning for the inaugural Liberty Amendments Month celebration is officially underway, and community organizations, businesses and individuals are encouraged to help shape the four weeks of festivities.
Liberty Amendments Month is the brainchild of Vienna Town Manager Mercury Payton, and the Vienna Town Council adopted a resolution on Dec. 7 to officially recognize the occasion. It has since been ratified by the Virginia General Assembly as well.
“We all can celebrate these amendments that ensure rights and liberties for each of us,” Payton said.
Patrons of the now-passed bill included Del. Mark Keam (D-Vienna) and state Sen. Mamie Locke (D-Hampton), who was one of Payton’s professors at Hampton University, Inside NOVA reports.
“I’m so proud that the Town of Vienna is leading the way in initiating this holiday and month-long commemoration of these fundamental rights that we all cherish,” Mayor Linda Colbert said. “I’m especially proud that Town Manager Mercury Payton came up with the idea and has worked hard to see it become a reality.”
In the wake of last summer’s racial justice protests, Payton conceived of Liberty Amendments Month as a celebration of the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th Constitutional amendments, which abolished slavery, granted citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the U.S., and extended voting rights to all citizens regardless of race and gender.
Liberty Amendments Month will begin on June 19 — also known as Juneteenth — with an educational event that will “offer a thoughtful reflection on the liberties assured by these four amendments to the U.S. Constitution,” according to the town.
Each of the next four weeks will be dedicated to one of the four liberty amendments with contests, lectures, classes, themed restaurant specials, walks, art exhibits, films, and performances.
The celebration will culminate on July 19 with a multicultural festival featuring food, drinks, crafts, and entertainment from around the world. The Vienna Town Council has designated that day as Liberty Amendments Day, replacing Columbus Day on its list of official holidays.
“There’s lots to celebrate here,” Councilmember Chuck Anderson said. “This is going to be a people’s event just as the Constitution is the people’s document.”
Groups interested in sponsoring, participating in, or hosting events can apply online by April 1.
The town is advising planners to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions and social-distancing guidelines, which could still be in place this summer.
Planning meetings will be held at 5 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Interested organizations can contact [email protected] for a Zoom link to the meetings or more details.
Photo via Town of Vienna
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Photo by Joanne Liebig
Vienna police arrested a teenager from Maryland earlier this week when he reportedly attempted to steal a gun that he had agreed to purchase, only to be stopped when the seller drew another firearm.
According to the Town of Vienna Police Department, officers were dispatched to Vienna Arsenal (386 Maple Ave. E) at 4:08 p.m. on Wednesday (March 10) when they received a call about a robbery in progress.
The incident involved a citizen who had posted an online advertisement about a gun for sale and agreed to meet the responding buyer at the Maple Avenue gun shop in order to finish the transaction.
The exchange did not go as the seller planned, as detailed in the VPD’s weekly summary:
The citizen stated that the suspect picked up the gun, said he needed to get the money from his car and began to run away with the weapon. The citizen chased the man into the bank’s parking lot next door, drew his firearm, ordering the man to stop, and walked him back to where the incident occurred. The citizen held him until police arrived.
The VPD says that the suspect initially gave officers false information about his identity, but they later identified him as a 16-year-old juvenile from Maryland.
The suspect was transported to the Fairfax County Juvenile Detention Center, where he was charged with grand larceny and false identification.
“He was remanded to the custody of the staff, and the juvenile’s parents were notified,” Vienna police say.
Photo via Vienna Police Department/Facebook
Improperly discarded smoking materials produced a fire in a one-story, single-family home in the Vienna/Dunn Loring area last night, the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department reported this morning.
Units from the county and City of Fairfax were dispatched to the 2600 block of Bowling Green Drive just off of Cedar Lane at approximately 9:28 p.m. for a reported house fire.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders found that a fire on the house’s rear deck was starting to spread toward the building itself. The fire was extinguished, and no injuries were reported to either the firefighters or the two people who were at home when the fire started.
“One of the occupants observed fire on the deck while looking out a window,” the FCFRD said. “Both occupants evacuated and called 9-1-1. Smoke alarms activated, but after the fire was discovered.”
Both residents have been displaced as a result of the fire, which caused around $116,400 in damages. Investigators determined that the fire was accidental in nature.
Citing this fire as an example of what could happen, the FCFRD cautions that improperly discarded cigarettes and other smoking materials, like ashes, can be especially hazardous on days like today. Fairfax County is currently under a Red Flag Warning for weather conditions that could contribute to fires.
The fire department says smoking materials should not be left in mulch, shrubbery, or potted plant soil, which can be highly flammable in dry weather. Ashtrays and sand are the best options for safe disposal.
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Staff photo by Jay Westcott
Patrons of Caboose Tavern will soon be able to grab a breakfast sandwich and morning coffee from the Town of Vienna brewpub (520 Mill St. NE).
Caboose Brewing Company announced yesterday (Thursday) that it will launch daily breakfast service at the tavern on Monday (March 8). Breakfast hours will go from 8-11 a.m. every day.
To celebrate the service change, Caboose Tavern will provide a free coffee or espresso beverage with any breakfast purchase on Monday through Wednesday.
The new menu offers breakfast staples, such as pancakes and artisan bagels, as well as fried chicken and smothered meat lovers’ biscuits, a build-your-own charcuterie and cheese board, and “breakfast on a stick,” a pork sausage fried in house-made pancake batter, corn dog-style.
There are also pastries that were designed to pair with Caboose Tavern’s new coffeehouse beverages, which are all hand-crafted, according to a press release.
The breakfast items will be available for dine-in service, takeout, or delivery.
Caboose Brewing owner Jennifer McLaughlin says the company decided to expand its breakfast and coffee service based on its success at Caboose Commons, the brewhouse it operates in the Mosaic District.
“Introducing breakfast and coffee at Tavern will transfer the same values and energy to our Vienna location,” McLaughlin said. “Opening up a space for people to gather with friends, hunker down to work, and start the day off right with a hearty breakfast and a cup of coffee felt like the logical step to take in our constant effort to enrich our community.”
Photo by Courtney Beazell
The Oral History Committee of Historic Vienna, Inc. is documenting residents’ memories of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The committee is asking town residents and businesses to submit representations of the way they were affected by, coped with, or reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stories can explore anything “you think is important to be remembered about this unprecedented time in history,” according to the “COVID Impressions” project webpage.
Possible topics include experiences with unemployment or virtual schools and the impact of the pandemic on relationships with friends or pets. Submissions can take the form of different mediums, including a short text description, a photograph, a poem, or a piece of art.
The collection will be presented on the Historic Vienna, Inc. website and preserved in the archives.
“Together the reflections we gather will capture a variety of our Vienna residents’ experiences,” the committee says.
For their submissions to be accepted, residents must fill out a release form. Submissions may be anonymous if desired but the release form still needs to be submitted.
Historic Vienna, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to preserving the Town of Vienna’s history by hosting public events, supporting the preservation of historic properties, and operating the Freeman Store and Museum, which is currently open during limited hours with strict health protocols in place.
According to its “Vienna Stories” website, Historic Vienna has been preserving local history through recorded interviews since it was established in 1976. Most recently, it launched a new initiative to collect oral histories from longtime area residents in 2013.
Transcripts and videos can be found on the nonprofit’s blog and YouTube channel.
Submissions for the COVID-19 stories exhibit and the accompanying release form can be sent to the oral history committee at [email protected].
Photo by Michelle Goldchain
Businesses in the Town of Vienna will now have more leniency for outdoor dining and other commercial activities until at least Sept. 1, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to constrain indoor activities.
The Vienna Town Council unanimously voted last night (Monday) to extend an emergency ordinance temporarily waiving zoning regulations on outdoor commercial operations that was scheduled to expire on Mar. 31.
This is the fourth time that the council has adopted the ordinance, which enables the town manager to grant temporary permits to businesses so they can operate outside without necessarily meeting all of the town’s usual requirements.
Vienna first adopted the measure for a 60-day period on June 1, 2020 in recognition that “COVID-19 constitutes a real and substantial threat to public health and safety,” as stated in the ordinance, which was extended on June 15 to Sept. 30, 2020 and again on Aug. 31 to Mar. 31, 2021.
With scientific evidence suggesting that the novel coronavirus spreads more easily in enclosed, indoor settings, many restaurants and retailers pivoted to offering outdoor activities last summer so they could keep operating under capacity limits imposed by state guidelines. While Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam loosened some restrictions starting this month, dining establishments are still limited to 10 indoor patrons, and capacity for all businesses is limited by the need for at least six feet of social distancing.
Under the emergency ordinance, Vienna is waiving requirements in the Town Code related to business activities that occur “outside of a wholly enclosed building, use of onsite sidewalks, and required parking areas for outdoor commercial activity.” Town Manager Mercury Payton
Town of Vienna Director of Planning and Zoning Cindy Petkac told the town council on Monday that the town has issued temporary permits to 32 businesses so far.
While the extension was approved quickly, Councilmember Chuck Anderson noted that, with the weather about to warm up and public health restrictions easing as COVID-19 cases decline, town officials should start considering what to do once more people start spending time outside of their homes.
“As more and more people get the vaccine and people start going out, the demand for those parking spaces, which has been pretty low, is going to increase,” Anderson said. “I don’t have any good ideas myself right now. It’s just something I thought we should keep on the radar screen over the next several months.”
Mayor Linda Colbert agreed that the town will need to prepare for potential conflicts between businesses that want to maintain outdoor operations and drivers looking for parking, which tends to be a challenge to find along Maple Avenue.
“We’d all be happy to have that problem, I think,” Colbert said. “We want those restaurants to just be booming, but I agree. We should be looking forward and thinking about that.”
Photo via Vienna Business Association/Facebook
The Town of Vienna recently lauded two police officers after they saved a man’s life by administering CPR when he stopped breathing.
According to the Vienna Police Department, MPO Kenny Smith and Officer Dale “Chip” McElhattan encountered a male driver who had been in a vehicle accident and were talking to him when he went into cardiac arrest, collapsing on the pavement and ceasing to breathe.
The department says in a news release that the officers “immediately jumped into action, rendering CPR and re-establishing a pulse and breathing.”
“Shortly after, the driver stopped breathing again,” the VPD said. “[The] officers worked tirelessly administering CPR until EMS arrived on the scene and took over the life-saving care.”
The driver was subsequently transported to a hospital in the area, where he was stabilized.
The Town of Vienna recognized the officers’ efforts on Feb. 17, when Vienna Police Chief Jim Morris and Town Manager Mercury Payton presented them with “life-saving” awards. Members of Vienna’s human resources department, police colleagues, friends, and family also attended the ceremony.
The police department says McElhattan and Smith have also been nominated for the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce Valor award, which “recognizes public safety employees’ actions beyond the call of duty.”
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Staff Photo by Jay Westcott
