Aaron Brown won a design competition open to high schoolers, and was recognized Friday by the three-person group tasked with planning the memorial, which will honor local service members from the past 200 years.

From 41 entries, a finalist was chosen from each of the five high schools in Stafford, with two from Brooke Point: Donald Kelley of Stafford High School; Abriel Moldanado and Dianna Quijano of Brooke Point; Lindsay Hughes of Mountain View; and Brandon Lindsey of Colonial Forge.

Brown won a $1,500 scholarship. An architect may use elements from all designs in the final planning of the memorial.

Here’s what Brown thinks the memorial should look like:

Debate continued late tonight at the Stafford Board of Supervisors meeting for the Silver Cos. two-in-one project.

“This horse has been beat, and beat bad,” Hartwood Supervisor Gary Snellings said of the project that was first proposed over two years ago. “I don’t know what you expect to accomplish in 45 days.”

Supervisor Paul Milde suggested waiting, since Tuesday was the first time the board heard from the applicant and the public. The county staff and the Planning Commission rejected the project, which includes housing for federal law enforcement trainees as well as high-end rentals for the public. 

Snellings opposed the Celebrate Virginia North project based on low proffers, it being outside the guidelines of the county Comprehensive Plan, and the emphasis on the “build it and they will come.”

Find the full story in Wednesday’s newspaper.

He’s one of four Republicans running for the four open Board of Supervisors seats. Incumbents Gary Snellings and Ty Schieber will also run, along with School Board member Meg Bohmke.

He cites successes over the past four years as reduced taxes, an increased county bond rating, the elimination of BPOL and the boat tax to help businesses, along with preservation projects at Crow’s Nest, Government Island and the Civil War Park.

“The progress we have made in putting our financial house in order, enacting policies that encourage economic growth, and preserving the natural beauty of our community is not necessarily permanent,” Milde wrote. “We need leaders who are vigilant about protecting our gains, which is why I am seeking another term on the Board.  I am committed to building upon this record, and will be steadfast in my insistence on retaining our fiscally conservative policies that have kept Stafford livable and affordable.”

Milde says he wants to keep the campaign focused on the issues, not on negative personal attacks.

River Road will be closed from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A contractor will be removing  a tree that fell during the April 19 storm, at St. Clair Brooks Park. Other trees are holding up the fallen tree for now, but the county wants to remove the danger to motorists or visitors.

The road will re-open as soon as the work is done.

And here are some of the key points:

• The adopted budget of $253 million budget goes into effect July 1 of this year. It’s $5.7 million more than last year’s budget.
• Transfers $109.5 million to the school system’s operating budget via categorical funding, meaning the school board must adhere to specific amounts for categories like instruction and administration. 
• Real estate tax rate remains the same as last year, at $1.07 per $100 of assessed value. 
• Three taxes were essentially cut to zero: the boat tax, machinery and tools tax, and motor carrier tax. Total, they brought in about $750,000 in revenue. 
• Sheriff’s Office volunteers get exemption from personal property taxes.
• Waives the 2014 vehicle license fee contingent on “positive results of operations” — or surplus. Owners are charged $23 for each car annually, though decals are no longer issued. A $2.4 million surplus from the current fiscal year will be used to make up for the difference. 
• Includes four new positions—jobs in parks and recreation, social services and for a new computer dispatch system. One would be converted from a part-time position. 
• Also pays for nine public-safety positions now funded through federal grants.
• Gives county employees a 1 percent cost-of-living raise in July, and an average 2 percent merit-based raise, in April 2014, when employees would have to pay more for health insurance. 
• Moves school employees up a “step” with a 2.5 percent increase, along with a 2 percent raise in January. Virginia Retirement System increases are also offset. 
• Delays a proposed partnership between the county and school system for serving at-risk youth. A four-member committee will further consider the program, which uses some federal funds. 

Two 3-inch ordnance rifles sit in Battery No. 1. 

Here you can find a map and complete schedule of events for Saturday. A junior soldier program will be going on from 12:45-4 p.m., and will offer kids the chance to learn drilling, write letters to home, and receive a commemorative patch and a set of enlistment papers. 

Visitors should park at the Brooke VRE Station, 1721 Brooke Road. A free shuttle bus will run to the park 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A barred owl at Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserve in November. (Photo by Marie Sicola/The Free Lance-Star)

The 2,800-acre preserve isn’t completely open for the public yet because of budgetary restraints. Guides lead hikes twice a year for public field days. Advanced sign-ups are required.

But there is another small piece of the preserve that is opened by parks and recreation staff daily. The parking lot off Brooke Road has a short path to a spot overlooking Accokeek Creek. A canoe/kayak launch is currently being designed, and would be installed by late fall or early winter to let people explore Crow’s Nest via paddling trail.

Here’s a story from November after the last field day.

The money will be used over the first two years of the new market for liability insurance and marketing materials.

The market will be open weekly starting June 2 at the Stafford Hospital Medical Pavilion parking lot, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays.

Find the full story in the newspaper this weekend.

The new AutoMark ballot marking device isn’t actually a voting machine, though. It doesn’t record any votes, it just fills in a ballot. That means that someone can take the same ballot that everyone else is using (with pens to fill in bubbles), and slide it right into the machine. The ADA-compliant device reads the text and allows the voter to use a touchscreen or buttons to make their selections. After the choices are reviewed, the 75-pound machine prints the ballot back out, filling in the appropriate bubbles. The voter adds that to the ballot reader with everyone else’s votes.

Stafford’s new AutoMark ballot marking device lets disabled fill in the same paper ballots that everyone else uses.

The new machines mean that Stafford already falls under new state guidelines that go into effect in 2016.

But not everyone will vote on these devices. The overwhelming majority of Stafford voters are instructed to use paper ballots. While some may question that method despite technological improvements, Riddlemoser said it makes elections faster, more accurate and officials can also recreate an entire election if there is a problem.

Just 16 people used the old electronic voting machine in the fall, and they must ask an election official to do so. Stafford reserves these for dexterity challenged, visually impaired and other disabled people, and Riddlemoser said it gives them a sense of independence they may not otherwise have on Election Day. Text size can be increased, and the computerized voice can be slowed down. (The old machines stored all the votes from the day and printed off a final tally when polls closed, rather than printing out each individual vote.)

The new equipment cost $150,000. Riddlemoser said that voters will be able to get familiarized with the change before the next likely high-turnout election in 2016.

Last Wednesday, a woman in the Stowe of Amyclae subdivision contacted Stafford County Animal Control about a a sick or injured cat that was on her porch. As an officer placed the cat in a carrier, the officer was scratched. The cat was taken to a veterinarian’s office. The Health Department was notified, and the cat was quarantined. It was euthanized after its condition deteriorated. A state lab said the animal tested positive for rabies.

On March 24, one cat in a group of feral cats was tested positive for rabies. All the others have since been captured after the county issued an alert.

The Sheriff’s Office advised in a release today that no one should approach or try to capture stray animals.

Here’s more from our newspaper last week about cats as the primary carrier of rabies.