PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Elkton, MD Great Falls PERMIT #31 Postal Customer ECR WSS Attention Postmaster: Time sensitive material. Requested in home 6-12-08 An Unlikely Graduation News, Page 3 Schoolmates Meredith Loretta and Mattie Gray chat with Nick Cafferky at his graduation party. Less than a year after he was paralyzed in a beach accident and three months after his return to Langley High School, Classifieds, Page 24 Classifieds, ❖ Cafferky is graduating on time. Sports, Page 21 ❖ Schools, Page 23 Schools, ❖ Faith, Page 18 ❖ Opinion, Page 8 insideinside After The Storm News, Page 3 ‘American in Paris’ Comes to Alden E-Section, Page 14 Photo Contributed Photo www.ConnectionNewspapers.com June 11-17, 2008 ❖ Volume XXII, Number 24 Great Fallswww.connectionnewspapers.com Connection ❖ June 11-17, 2008 ❖ 1 Your Source for Quality and Value!!! 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He then Wstorms crippled much of hooked up two generators to revive the re- Northern Virginia for more frigeration and lighting, and he and his staff than a day, but few areas were harder-hit set about feeding anyone drawn to the than McLean and Great Falls. Fairfax County restaurant’s light in the darkened commer- Fire and Rescue spokesman Raul Castillo cial district. “I had reservations,” he said. said the fire departments received more “My phone was not working, and I had calls for those areas, mostly for downed people coming all the way from Baltimore. power lines, than anywhere else in the I could not turn them away.” He had offered county, followed closely by Falls Church and a menu of kebabs cooked on the grill. Annandale. Most of downtown McLean lost power THE NEXT MORNING, he went to Costco around 3 p.m. Wednesday and remained in Pentagon City and bought the biggest Photo by Mike DiCicco/The Connection closed throughout the following day. The generator he could find. “People were in a Two fallen trees are suspended over Old Dominion Drive near Towlston drone of generators testified to the few busi- line to get them,” he said. The power fi- Road. Another tree nearby had already been chopped into pieces Thurs- ness owners who refused to submit to the nally came back on at about 6:45 Thursday day evening. blackout. Power was restored to many busi- evening. “It’s been a hectic couple of days,” nesses in Great Falls Thursday morning, but said Uzun. “Thank God it’s over.” period on Wednesday. Most were for inter- Bridge Road, Old Dominion Drive and some Great Falls residents still had no elec- It was a hectic time for public safety em- sections where traffic lights had gone out. Lewinsville Road, as well as many others. tricity by Friday evening. ployees as well. Fairfax County Police In McLean, he said, traffic signals had gone A number of signals on Leesburg Pike in “We were the only restaurant open last spokesman Don Gotthardt said police re- dark up and down Dolley Madison Boule- night in McLean,” said Zeynel Uzun, owner ceived 2,300 calls for service in a four-hour vard and on Westmoreland Street, Chain See Area, Page 10 Cafferky Beats Odds, Graduates with His Class eryone who had the T-shirt wore it. “It was Teen badly injured so cool,” said Elisa Cafferky. Team Nick Days last summer were also staged by the baseball and bas- ketball teams, both on “big-game nights” graduates on time. against rivals McLean and James Madison high schools. By Mike DiCicco “Nick and I didn’t really know each other,” The Connection said Loretta. But, like many others, she had wanted to do something to help out after warms of family and friends drifted his injury. “Everyone at Langley has a T-shirt Photo by Photo Sin and out of the Cafferky home in for everything they’ve done,” she said. “It Great Falls Sunday afternoon for a seemed like a good way to get everyone in- party that was to honor 17-year-old Nick volved.” Cafferky and to thank everyone who had Mike DiCicco helped to support him and his family over ALMOST 2,000 of the shirts have been the last year. sold to date. Ten months after he was paralyzed by a Loretta said the shirts only cost $10 apiece wave that broke his neck at Dewey Beach, because the company that produced them, Del. and just three months after his return /The Connection Reston Shirt & Graphic Company, had sold to Langley High School, Cafferky is gradu- them “almost at cost.” She said she and ating with the rest of his class. Cafferky’s parents had chosen the “team” The accident left him paralyzed from the motif because of his interest in sports. chest down, with limited use of his hands. “Langley has been more supportive than “The way this thing kind of snowballed I could possibly imagine,” said Cafferky. For made us want to do something not just for one thing, classmates and teachers had kept Nick,” said his father, Mike, noting that From left, Meredith Loretta, Lauren March, Nick Cafferky, Alexis Leon his return to school from being “weird,” he friends, classmates, neighbors and local and Caroline Stinger pose for a picture at Cafferky’s graduation party. said. “Just being able to get back into the organizations had not only raised money swing of things so easily, it meant a lot.” to help pay for his son’s rehabilitation but family didn’t even know had contacted them Optimist Club, to raise more than $100,000 He said the school administration had had also brought dinners to the family, offering assistance. “And it’s a chance for for the Nick Cafferky Medical Fund. Another worked with him and his parents so that he driven their other children to practices and people who hadn’t met Nick to meet him fundr-aiser, spearheaded by classmate could graduate on time without having to written “heartwarming” posts on Nick and see that there’s this kid behind the Meredith Loretta, had raised “an absurd do a year’s worth of work in three months. Cafferky’s Web site. story,” she added. amount of money” by selling T-shirts read- “It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be,” “Everybody’s been so nice to us,” said She said a number of activities had been ing “Team Nick,” she said. Subsequently, the Cafferky’s mother, Elisa. She said people the organized, several of them by the Great Falls school planned a Team Nick Day, when ev- See Team Nick, Page 7 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Great Falls Connection ❖ June 11-17, 2008 ❖ 3 News Week in Great Falls Park Authority Seeks Public’s Input The Northern Virginia Regional Park Au- Staging Area Stays thority (NVRPA) has announced the devel- opment of its next Capital Improvement Program, which will consider the expansion After search, com- and improvement of the regional park sys- tem in fiscal years 2010-2014. NVRPA is pany keeps original seeking the input of citizens within its six member jurisdictions, including the Fairfax clear-cut site for HOT County. Members of the public are invited Lanes construction. to voice ideas and suggestions at a public hearing at the Meadowlark Botanical Gar- dens Visitor Center, 9750 Meadowlark Gar- By Mike DiCicco dens Court in Vienna, on Thursday, June The Connection 19, at 6 p.m. Ideas can also be submitted via email at [email protected]. For more luor Corporation and Transurban information, visit www.NVRPA.org. are settling in on the Virginia De Fpartment of Motor Vehicles Fund-raiser for (VDOT) property off the inter- change of Georgetown Pike and the Beltway. Following citizen outcry, the com- Cancer Research panies had sought another site to house The English Trading Company will be hosting a cancer research fund-raiser at its equipment and vehicles for the upcoming Photo by Mike DiCicco/The Connection construction of high-occupancy toll (HOT) Tysons Corner Center store on June 14. The Activity has resumed at the staging area by the Georgetown Pike/Beltway lanes on the Beltway. However, as the time event, open to all, is intended to raise interchange. All construction vehicles will have to enter and exit via this for a decision neared, VDOT spokesman awareness on cancer research as well as entryway being built on the northbound ramp of the interchange.