PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Elkton, MD Great Falls PERMIT #31 Great Falls Postal Customer ECR WSS Attention Postmaster: Time sensitive material. Requested in home 6-5-08 Prom Diary People, Page 6 Langley High students pose before going to their prom party last Saturday. Clockwise starting from the botttom left are: Katie Voorhees with Derek Baker, Courtney Myers with Alex Combs, Becca Berenson with JT Sekel, Alanna Hantho with Eddie Gonzales, Rebecca DeSousa withAhmed Malik, Elana Pinkasovic with Graham Dubew, Katie Wingo with Jono Hofgard, Kelsey Green with Will Myers, Rachael Hanna with Nikhil Gola, Hannah Engel withRyan Davenport, and Maddy Macklin with Hank Moran. Classifieds, Page 20 Classifieds, ❖ Sports, Page 18 ❖ Schools, Page 17 Schools, ❖ Faith, Page 16 ❖ Opinion, Page 10 insideinside Arts of All Kind Paintout at News, Page 3 Riverbend Park E-Section, Page 14 Photo Contributed Photo June 4-10, 2008 ❖ Volume XXII, Number 23 Great Fallswww.connectionnewspapers.com Connection ❖ June 4-10, 2008 ❖ 1 Your Source for Quality and Value!!! Experience our Superior Service and Extensive Selection & Quality Fabric Border Rugs AREA STAIR & RUGS HALL RUNNER Custom Border Rugs Oriental & Area Rugs Sisal Rugs CARPET WALL-TO-WALL HARDWOOD Ceramic & Vinyl Hardwood Custom Sand & Finish In-Home SPECIAL Fabrication SERVING YOU SINCE 1998 EXCELLENT REPUTATION FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE & SUPERIOR CRAFTSMANSHIP Great Falls OPEN Leesburg Floors GREAT FALLS Calico . Rt. 193 SUNDAYS o Georgetown Pike Rte. 7 and Georgetown Pike (Route 193) C . d. y x R McLean w Old Dominion Dr k irfa . Seneca Square (Next to Calico Corners) P Dranesville R a t. 7 F 703-759-9200 1025-N Seneca Road RestonPkwy Monday through Saturday 10-6 • Sunday 12-4 • VISA • Master Card • Discover • AMEX Herndon Reston Tysons Corner 2 ❖ Great Falls Connection ❖ June 4-10, 2008 Great Falls Connection Editor Kemal Kurspahic News 703-917-628 or [email protected] Photo by Photo Rebecca Baird-Remba /The Connection Photos by Photos Mike DiCicco Kidz Clubhouse volunteer Caroline Haymans stands with her certificate while founder Diane Anderson praises her contributions to Kidz Clubhouse. /The Connection Special All of Walt Lawrence’s photographs are taken in the Uzma Hayat specializes in Islamic calligraphy. All of Great Falls community. “I saw a lot of it getting Bonds her pieces are made from scratch, and with the excep- mowed down. I decided when I retired I wanted to tion of some paintings and one clay sculpture, all of capture as much as I could of what’s left before it was her work at the Art Festival was made from glass, all gone,” said Lawrence, who has lived in Great Falls Kidz Clubhouse often plated with gold. for more than 30 years. honors its Arts of All Kinds Second annual Spring Art Festival student volunteers. comes to Colvin Run Schoolhouse. By Rebecca Baird-Remba s Great Falls Studios has grown, so The Connection Ahas its calendar of events. Last year, the second annual Spring Art Festival was work in the show. the group, which began with a held last weekend at the Colvin Run His- Cindy Grisdela, co-chair of the group’s idz Clubhouse, a camp in Great dozen people and five years later boasts a toric Schoolhouse. Sixteen artists, includ- communications committee, said high turn Falls, provides entertainment membership of 77 Great Falls artists, added ing painters, potters, photographers, jew- and activities for children and See Studios, Page 11 K a major spring showing to its activities, and elers, a quilter and others, displayed their teenagers with developmental disabilities, and it runs entirely with the help of volunteers from local middle and high schools, who give up part of their sum- mer and some of their weekends during the school year. On Sunday, June 1, Kidz Club- house founder Diane Anderson hosted an event to honor these volunteers, providing dinner and then recognizing each of them with certificates. “For so many of these kids we deal with, a lot of them are dealing with life-threaten- ing issues that have put them in the hospi- tal and affect their daily lives. The impact that you teenagers have on these kids is “I always liked playing incredible,” said Anderson, addressing the volunteers, their parents, and assorted fam- with crayons when I Laurie Sherman, who runs Opus ily during dinner. Arts Holistic Health with her hus- was little, so I guess band out of their home on THROUGH KIDZ CLUBHOUSE, volun- I’m still doing that.” Utterback Store Road, uses gems teers have connected with disabled children and crystals to make jewelry that and teenagers in a meaningful way, and CindyCindy GrisdelaGrisdela is designed to heal. Having studied many of them have gained a better under- under indigenous spiritual healers standing and a greater acceptance of people Cindy Grisdela has been quilting since 1982 but didn’t begin selling her in Australia, Africa, Tibet and with disabilities. work until she joined Great Falls Studios about four years ago. “I always elsewhere, she makes pieces for “Words can’t even describe how much liked playing with crayons when I was little, so I guess I’m still doing men, women, children and even that,” she said. animals. See Volunteers, Page 9 Great Falls Connection ❖ June 4-10, 2008 ❖ 3 The County Line More at www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Survivors Triumph in Sea of Pink One in eight women Get Involved will be diagnosed Readers can still participate in the 2008 Komen National Race for the Cure. Late registration will be available this Thursday and Friday, June 5 and 6, from 10 with breast cancer. a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW, in Washington, D.C. See By Ken Moore www.nationalraceforthecure.org or call 703-416-RACE. The Connection Gray found her- tectomy. I said, ‘What’s that?” said Heyer, isa Gray’s sister and niece each self counting in who flew planes for the Navy for 20 years, held one of her hands, the day eights at her niece’s and now is an engineering consultant. LGray chose to have her head high school gradua- “I never knew guys get that,” he said he’s shaved in a hair salon. Gray’s own tion. “Here were often told. “They are kind of caught back.” hairdresser was too emotional to cut off these young Gray’s hair, hair not yet claimed by chemo- women, high school PATTI BROWNSTEIN was taken aback, therapy. graduates, and I when she was diagnosed in December 1998. “I had my eyes closed, crying, and a voice couldn’t accept that “I kind of didn’t believe it, because I was in that wasn’t familiar to me, all of a sudden, Coty Dickson, of Great Falls, with those young women the lowest risk group,” she said. “It was very was in my ear,” said Gray. “She said to me, her husband Dan Dickson, would have to face frightening when you’re a mother of two ‘You are so strong and you are wonderful.’ shown here in France. this,” she said. teenagers. Very frightening.” It was the lady in the beauty parlor sit- Only five to 10 percent of breast cancers ting next to me. THIS YEAR, about are due to heredity; in fact, the majority of “You know or you think you’re dying 182,460 new cases women with breast cancer have no signifi- and anytime anybody gives you some of invasive breast cant family history or other known risk fac- strength, it just helps you through that cancer will be diag- tors, according to www.komen.org. day,” said Gray, a self-employed techni- nosed. More than Brownstein, 54 of Great Falls, didn’t de- cal writer. 40,000 women will tect the cancer in her body. Gray, 55 of Kingstowne, is an eight- die. “A mammogram saved my life,” year survivor of breast cancer. Next Sat- When the cancer Brownstein said, a nine-year survivor. urday, June 7, she will walk the Susan is detected early be- Brownstein, owner of LGP Promotional G. Komen National Race for the Cure for fore it spreads be- Group, Inc., travels to Aruba to celebrate the sixth time. yond the breast, the her wedding anniversary each year with her survival rate is now husband Alan Brownstein, whom she met COTY DICKSON was a 41-year-old Lisa Gray Susan Sonley Patti Brownstein, 98 percent, com- when she was 15 years old. single mother with two children, 12 and here in Brussels. pared to 74 percent “I watched my daughters grow into in- six-years-old, when she was diagnosed with when you have an opportunity you take in 1982. credible young women who I’m extremely breast cancer after detecting a lump during them,” she said. Komen for the Cure has invested $1 bil- proud of,” she said. a self-examination. “Even though I’m a 20-year survivor, it lion for breast cancer research and commu- Brownstein hopes for a cure, not only for “Needless to say, that news altered my life never goes away, you always think about nity outreach. The organization pledges to early detection. “I’d love to change the forever,” she said. it.” invest $2 billion more over the next decade. theme,” she said. Dickson’s mother had died of breast can- Without a cure, an estimated 5 million cer three years earlier. Dickson’s grand- “WE’RE ON the right side of the coin, but Americans will be diagnosed and more than SUSAN G. KOMEN was Nancy G. Brinker’s mother also died of breast cancer.