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Serving Fairfax Areas of Burke Commuting Crush News, Page 3 Sharing Repast For Ramadan News, Page 2 Harpist Kate Hazzard Roger of Fairfax performs with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, Sept. 11 when it kicks off its 2010-11 season. Classified, Page 13 Classified, ❖ Calendar, Page 7 ❖ Sports, Page 11 ReadyReady ToTo PlayPlay News, Page 4 Requested in home 9-3-10 home in Requested Time sensitive material. sensitive Time Attention Postmaster: Attention PERMIT #322 PERMIT Easton, MD Easton, PAID U.S. Postage U.S. Photo courtesy of Fairfax Symphony Orchestra STD PRSRT www.ConnectionNewspapers.comSeptember 2-8, 2010 ❖ Volume XXIV, Number 35 online at www.connectionnewspapers.comFairfax Connection ❖ September 2-8, 2010 ❖ 1 News Photos by Photos Gina Uricoli /The Connection After the meal, children are entertained by Jingo the Clown. Jingo, also known as Brandon Barnette runs Kid Phaze Studios based in Silver Spring, Md. Breaking Fast in Fairfax Muslims share food with guests at Ramadan Tent. uring the Islamic month of Ramadan, it’s ship Association and the Rumi Forum of Fairfax a tradition for Muslims to observe the opened a traditional Ramadan Iftar Tent at 3929 Old end of their daily fast together with an Lee Highway in the City of Fairfax. Each night, visi- Members of the American Turkish Friendship Asso- D evening meal called Iftar. On the eve- tors to the tent enjoyed free meals and after-dinner ciation prepare free iftar dinners for guests at the nings of Aug. 26-28, the American Turkish Friend- entertainment. Traditional Ramadan Iftar Tent on Aug. 27. 2 ❖ Fairfax Connection ❖ September 2-8, 2010 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Fairfax Connection Editor Michael O’Connell News 703-778-9416 or [email protected] Commuters Endure the ‘Orange Crush’ Metro riders feel the “We really need a strain of packed rail commitment from riders cars especially at busy and from the region to Rosslyn station. keep it going.” Photo by Photo — Supervisor Cathy Hudgins By Joey DiGuglielmo (D-Hunter Mill) The Connection Joey DiGuglielm t’s 9 a.m. on a Wednesday and Spring- system seems to operate. field resident Isabela Borges is stuck “I think I quite expected it to be full of Ion a Metro Blue Line train going no- people but not that the trains would be so where. slow or there would be so few trains,” She got on at the Franconia-Springfield Borges said. “I didn’t realize the service o Station, the first stop on Blue. It left the /The Connection would be as bad as it is.” station as normal, but now she’s stuck with After nearly a half-hour of no movement, a train full of other passengers at the Van the doors finally close at Van Dorn. But the Dorn Station. Minutes drag by with no sign train moves only a few hundred feet before of movement. It’s not crowded but no empty another interminable stop. Riders are quiet, seats are left and this is only the train’s sec- many engrossed in their Blackberries, ond stop. For its part, Metro is keeping rid- iPhones and books. But for those, like ers abreast of the situation. Regular It’s standing room only on the Metro Orange Line at the Rosslyn Borges, hoping to get to work, it’s a vexing voiceovers promise trains will be “moving Station during a Tuesday at evening rush hour. situation. soon.” Metro’s website says a train malfunc- Metro is, of course, an easy target for criti- tion outside of the Stadium-Armory stop has lays. She starts at the end of the Blue Line, “Thankfully this isn’t the norm,” she said. cism for residents of the Washington, D.C. caused delays on both the Blue and Orange switches to Red at Metro Center then goes Upon moving to the U.S. a month ago area. Escalators out of commission for lines. nearly to the end of the Red Line to Medi- from her native Rio de Janeiro, Borges said weeks at a time, frequent delays, trains with Borges, a research physician at the Na- cal Center past Bethesda, Md. On a good she expected Metro would be busy, but she no air conditioning, riders forced to wait tional Institute of Health, faces a long com- day, it takes an hour. On days like today, it’s has been unpleasantly surprised to find how mute each day even when there are no de- anybody’s guess. often there are delays and how poorly the See Orange, Page 4 Bringing Quentin Home With help of Brain Injury Services, mother is now able to raise son at home. By Andrew Metcalf he would never leave.” Metcalf/The Connection by Andrew Photo The Connection They also told her that he was legally blind, and she often struggled to get straight t 2-months old, Teresa answers from them. Hammonds’ son Quentin sus- But she always knew there was something A tained a traumatic brain injury special about her son. that left him in intensive care. “Once you get to know him, you can tell His outlook seemed bleak. According to he has his own personality,” she said. “If he Hammonds, one doctor said his injuries doesn’t like something, he’ll raise his hand were so significant he or turn his head and his would have let him die. face will turn red.” But she soldiered on, It took five years to sta- “If this was your despite being told her bilize Quentin and that’s son was blind, paralyzed child would you say when Hammonds began and would be in a veg- looking for a way to etative state for the rest their life is not bring him home. She of his life. contacted the Brain In- Brooke Annessa, right, a caseworker with Brain Injury Services of After leaving the hos- worth living?” jury Services of Spring- Springfield, helped Teresa Hammonds, left, obtain support for her son pital, Quentin was — Tessa Hammonds field and Brooke Quentin. brought to a pediatric Annessa, 25, was as- nursing center in Dunn signed to her case. do anything I want to do.” the Money Follows the Person program, Loring, where he would live for the next At their first meeting, Annessa recalled That was just the attitude it would take which pays for nursing home patients to five years. However, the center was an hour Hammonds saying, “They sent this little girl to navigate the local, state and federal bu- return home because community living away from Hammonds’ house in Manassas, to bring home my son.” But Annessa a slen- reaucracy in order to bring Quentin home. costs are on average two-thirds of that of a and she was discouraged by the staff there. der, 5-foot-5 native of Fairfax wasn’t wor- “The energy and dedication she shows as nursing home, according to the MFP “They said any movement he made was ried, even though she had only been on the a case manager is unparalleled,” said Karen website. from seizures,” said Hammonds. “They told job for a year. Brown, director of BIS. me he couldn’t enjoy the outdoors and that “I’m young,” she said. “And I believe I can First, Annessa secured federal funds from See Finding, Page 5 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Fairfax Connection ❖ September 2-8, 2010 ❖ 3 News Orange Crush From Page 3 two and three trains before being able to cram in a car packed in like sardines with the armpits and backs of strang- Photo courtesy of Fairfax Symphony Orchestra Symphony of Fairfax courtesy Photo ers nearly pressed against them. Not to mention nightmares that linger after last summer’s deadly Red Line crash. It’s a common commiseration topic for area residents, especially those in Northern Virginia who depend on the Orange, Yellow and Blue lines to get to their jobs, many in the Dis- trict. The Orange Line, the second busiest in the system after Red, can be particularly vexing for Virginians. The always- hopping Rosslyn Station is stifling on another recent week- day during evening rush hour. Blue and Orange trains are whizzing through the station with regularity — about ev- ery 2 minutes — but each car is packed. Within the space of about 20 minutes, three trains roll through pulling whole cars darkened and out of service. “When one of those cars is broken, it’s almost impossible to get on,” says Emily Bever, an Oakton resident who rides from Vienna, switches at Rosslyn then gets off at Pentagon City on the Blue Line each day for her job at a Washington, Emily Sullivan, Aaron Clay, Stiliana Christof, Cynthia Crumb, Dean Woods, Kate Hazzard D.C. think tank. Roger and Kathy Thompson of Fairfax prepare for the Sept. 11 start of the Fairfax So is this par for the course for living in a large metro- Symphony Orchestra’s 2010-11 season. politan area or does the system have serious deficiencies? “I think it’s a little of both,” Bever said. “Like right now, the trains are running pretty close together and another is Orchestra Continues To Grow only 2 minutes behind. But if it’s much more than that, the station will fill up again and with everybody coming out of the city, the trains are full when they get here. It feels like Philippe Bianconi who, according to Zimmerman, “is ridership is increasing and the service is decreasing.” Fairfax Symphony both a beautiful pianist and profound interpreter.” Supervisor Catherine Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill), who sits Orchestra opens new The Oct. 23 concert highlights the FSO and the fine on the Metro Board, said she hears regularly from con- players within it.

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