Words, music, images and more from Jim Barnes
After Ron Sipes had a pair of strokes in October 2012, doctors predicted he would never walk or talk again.
But Sipes has defied the odds. On May 18, in a voice clear and strong, he sang out the opening lines of a song made popular by Louis Armstrong…
The Washington Post, May 29, 2016
Supporters of the 101-year-old Manassas water tower won a major victory last month when the city council unanimously rejected an appeal that would have led to its demolition.
Instead, the council voted Feb. 22 to uphold the Manassas Architectural Review Board’s ruling protecting the water tower. The council also authorized Mayor Harry J. “Hal” Parish II (R) to send a letter to state and federal agencies supporting a local preservation group’s efforts to have the structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Washington Post, March 6, 2016
In 1861, Union Army Capt. Edward Todd of the 2nd Vermont Infantry was wounded at the Battle of First Manassas. He went home to Vermont for two years to recover before returning to fight in several more Civil War battles in Virginia.
More than 150 years later, Todd’s wartime haversack — a large, purselike bag he used to carry personal belongings — has returned to Manassas. The haversack is part of a collection of Civil War artifacts donated to the Manassas Museum in the summer by Northern Virginia Community College and retired history professor Charles Poland Jr.
Washington Post, November 29, 2015
About 70 Manassas-area children are joining their voices in song as members of a new choral group that began rehearsing last month.
The Greater Manassas Children’s Choir, an offshoot of the Manassas Chorale, is divided by age into two singing groups, each with a director. Becky Verner leads about 50 children in grades 5 through 8, and Susan Dommer is head of a smaller group of children in grades 2 through 4.
Washington Post, October 11, 2015
City Tavern, which closed June 29 after more than two decades in Old Town Manassas, has reopened in a location less than a mile away, outside the city’s historic downtown.
The restaurant reopened July 22 in a renovated building at 9550 Center St. that formerly housed KC’s Restaurant. A co-owner of City Tavern’s former building, adjacent to the Olde Towne Inn, said he expects another restaurant to open there after major repairs are completed.
Washington Post, August 30, 2015
A group of Prince William writers, joined by Manassas City Council member Ian T. Lovejoy (R), formally launched the city’s first Little Free Library in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 8.
Members of Write by the Rails, the Prince William County chapter of the Virginia Writers Club, constructed the tiny library. It will be mounted in front of the New School, which is slated to open this fall in the old post office building on Church Street in Old Town Manassas.
Washington Post, August 16, 2015
I had been hoping to catch a glimpse of a pair of bald eagles with a nest in Manassas. I didn’t have any luck there, but was struck with the stark beauty of the late winter trees.
Admirers of a pair of bald eagles that live near Manassas Regional Airport raised alarms recently about the birds’ safety after noticing a real estate sign and utility work on property in the vicinity of the eagles’ nest.
Concern about the eagles’ welfare spread quickly through social media and drew the attention of federal, state and local authorities, who responded to fears that the eagles’ habitat might be threatened.
Washington Post, March 1, 2015
The smart little pig wouldn’t have fared too well in this brick building in Old Town Manassas, which the winds huffed and puffed into a pile of rubble last weekend.
Betsy Young (left) and Jessica Woelkers
Prince William County Schools have taken the initiative to educate students, employees and parents about human trafficking.
Washington Post, January 11, 2015