INSIDE: Find our special ‘Years in Business’ inside this edition! NEW DULLES CAMPUS Give Your Child a Competitive Advantage On-Campus Classes 9 17 Five Days A Week FREE CLINIC REGION K4 -12th Grade MEDICAL HOOPS DIRECTOR TOURNEY 703-759-5100 WINS HONOR BEGINS www.FairfaxChristianSchool.com Sun Gazette ARLINGTON’S SOURCE FOR HOMETOWN NEWS SINCE 1935 VOLUME 86 NO. 9 FEBRUARY 11-17, 2021 Instant-Runoff Voting Is Likely Off Table for ‘21 Implementation Complexities Remain to Be Worked Through SCOTT McCAFFREY “ranked-choice” voting) for Sta Writer County Board races at either or both the primary and gen- Technical, legal and - eral-election levels. It would nancial complexities likely not impact any other elec- will mean any start to “in- tions in Arlington. stant-runoff” County Board While advocates for the voting in Arlington will be change feel condent County pushed back to 2022 at the Board members will imple- soonest. ment it, those board mem- “It’s not practical for this bers will likely have to weigh year. The earliest this could multiple factors in deciding Mrs. Mary Sheppard Lockett watches a drive-through parade of well-wishers saluting her 104th birthday from the possibly be used is next when, or even if, to move porch of her Green Valley home on Feb. 7. She was born on Feb. 7, 1917, and has lived in the Green Valley neighbor- year,” said Arlington Elec- ahead. hood since 1939. PHOTO BY SCOTT McCAFFREY toral Board secretary Scott “This is a County Board McGeary, summing things decision. We’re here to as- up during a Feb. 6 Electoral sist them,” Reinemeyer said. Going Strong at 104 Years Young Board meeting. “The County Board is the ul- That’s a view generally timate decision-making au- With lights ashing and sirens retire for the evening at the con- to Edward and Annie Sheppard shared by elections staff. thority. I would hope we get wailing, a ock of Arlington po- clusion of “Wheel of Fortune” at of nearby Baileys Crossroads, “There’s a lot of questions some guidance from them in lice and re vehicles on Feb. 7 led 7:30 p.m., Mrs. Lockett still pre- the sixth and last surviving of . that we don’t have the coming months.” a parade of well-wishers down pares her own meals, washes and eight siblings. answers to,” said Gretchen The question becomes, South Kenmore Street, wishing irons her own clothes and keeps (1917 also was the birth year Reinemeyer, who heads the which comes rst: A County local resident Mary Lockett a her house tidy. of the likes of John F. Kennedy, county’s election ofce, in a Board decision on moving joyous 104th birthday. Her mind is unclouded, eas- Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, brieng of Electoral Board forward, or election ofcials And for the past 82 of those ily and vividly recalling details of Zsa Zsa Gabor and Desi Arnaz, members. coming up with answers to years, she has called the Green the past, family and friends say, and Mrs. Lockett shares her Feb. Under General Assembly more technical questions that Valley community home. and her keen wit is undiminished 7 birthday with another notable legislation passed in 2020, involve coordination with the A self-sufcient woman who by the passage of time. Arlington now has the power State Board of Elections and rises at 5 a.m. and is ready to She was born on Feb. 7, 1917, Continued on Page 11 to implement instant-run- off (alternately known as Continued on Page 11 ONLINE https://sungazette.news l On Facebook: sungazettenews l On Twitter: @sungazettenews @sungazettespts Local Postal Customer Postal Local Let’s Hear It for Your Favorite Local Businesses Nominate “The Best” in almost 100 Categories Online @ SunGazette.News through February ★ 28th, 2021. Winners will be announced on Thursday, March 25, 2021 in Gazette ★Sun our “Best of the Best ”special section. PERMIT NO. 260 NO. PERMIT Sun Gazette Best of the Best 2021 EASTON, MD EASTON, PAID Winners will be announced on U.S. POSTAGE U.S. Go online to SunGazette.News Thursday, March 25, 2021 in our PRSRT STD PRSRT 2021 for details and to vote. BEST OF ★ “Best of the Best” special section. ★ THE BEST 65+ and Needing Care for a Chronic Illness? 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Service is currently available in Arlington, McLean, Falls Church, Bailey’s Crossroads, NW DC, Chevy Chase, Fredericksburg, northern Alexandria, Winchester, and Manassas in zip codes 20109, 20110, 20111, 20120, 20121, 20124, 20136, 20143, 20155, 20169, 20181, 20182. Capital Caring Health is one of the oldest and largest providers of advanced illness, elder health, home and hospice care in the country, caring for more than 2,000 patients per day in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. 2 February 11, 2021 sungazette.news County Jobless Rate Largely Unchanged to End Year Arlington’s jobless rate con- a whole, the unemployment rate metropolitan areas to post high- tinues its descent from the CO- of 4.3 percent for December was UNEMPLOYMENT RATES, DECEMBER er year-over-year joblessness. VID-caused spike of last spring, unchanged from a month before, From Virginia Employment Commission, showing non-seasonally-adjusted civilian em- Seven communities bucked the ployment for December 2020. “11/20” is rate for November 2020; “12/19” is for December but still has some ground to representing 1.54 million in the 2019.$VSSFOUNPOUITàHVSFTBSFQSFMJNJOBSZ trend with lower year-over-year make up. civilian workforce and about Jurisdiction Employed Unemployed Rate 11/20 12/19 rates in December, while rates With 143,909 county resi- 69,800 looking for jobs. Alexandria 94,288 4,777 4.8% 4.9% 1.8% were unchanged in three areas. dents employed in the civilian (A year before, the regional Arlington 143,909 5,698 3.8% 3.8% 1.5% Nationally, the non-seasonal- workforce and 5,698 looking for jobless rate had stood at 1.9 per- Fairfax County 590,375 27,313 4.4% 4.4% 1.9% ly-adjusted unemployment rate jobs, Arlington’s unemployment cent.) Falls Church 8,009 266 3.2% 3.0% 1.7% of 6.5 percent in December was rate stood at 3.8 percent in De- Statewide, the December Loudoun 206,893 8,384 3.9% 3.8% 1.9% up from 3.4 percent a year be- cember, according to new gures non-seasonally-adjusted unem- Prince William 227,521 11,485 4.8% 4.8% 2.1% fore. A total of 265 metro areas from the Virginia Employment ployment rate of 4.7 percent was Northern Va. 1,541,642 69,789 4.3% 4.3% 1.9% had rates lower than the national Commission. up two ticks from 4.5 percent Virginia 4,061,181 198,530 4.7% 4.5% 2.4% average, with 114 above it and 10 That’s the same percentage in November, as the number of United States 149,613,000 10,404,000 6.5% 6.4% 3.4% equivalent to it. rate reported in November, and employed residents fell by about A total of 51 areas had jobless remains more than double the 4,400 while the number of peo- were found in Petersburg (11.9 Brightening of Jobs Picture rates of less than 4 percent, with pre-COVID rate of 1.5 percent ple counted in the labor force percent), Hopewell (8.7 percent) to End 2020: Slowly – at this 20 metro corridors reporting reported in December 2019. (employed or not) rose slightly. and Emporia (8.6 percent). point frustratingly slowly – the rates of more than 10 percent. Figures were reported Feb. Construction, manufactur- Among the 10 metropolitan Washington region’s jobs picture The lowest jobless rate in De- 3 by the Virginia Employment ing, trade/transportation and areas in Virginia, Northern Vir- continues to improve from the cember was reported in Ames, Commission. information were job sectors ginia showed the biggest drop in depths of the COVID crisis. Iowa, at 2.1 percent. The highest Across the region, the im- that saw statewide growth for the employment, down 4,600 people, With 3,362,850 residents could be found in El Centro, Ca- provement in the jobs picture month, while government and or 0.3 percent. Blacksburg-Chris- in the civilian workforce and lif., at 17.7 percent. was slowing as the year ended. leisure/hospitality were sectors tiansburg had a smaller decline 187,136 looking for jobs, the Among the nation’s 51 metro Jobless rates stood at 3.2 percent seeing decline. (All three levels in raw numbers (down 1,800) metro area’s unemployment areas with populations of more in Falls Church (up from 3 per- of government – federal, state but the percentage dropoff was rate of 5.6 percent in December, than a million, the lowest jobless cent a month before); 3.9 percent and local – posted jobs drops higher at 2.4 percent.