Manassas Journal Messenger 02-27-01

Tuesday,

February 27, 2001

News

From

Battle Street to Bourbon Street

By

Staff

Amy Drewry/Staff Photographer

People gather outside to listen to a band playing jazz

at last year’s Old Town Manassas Mardi Gras Festival and Sidewalk Parade.

OLD TOWN – The spirit of Mardi Gras will come to historic Old Town Manassas

this afternoon and evening with the third annual Old Town Manassas Mardi

Gras Festival and Sidewalk Parade.

A closed-off section of Battle St. between Church and Center will open

its gates at 4 p.m. to a throng of festival goers who will participate in

all the standard Mardi Gras revelry.

Included in the celebration will be a sidewalk parade of floats, complete

with a marching band, flying beads, outrageous costumes, Cajun and Creole

food and the sounds of three hot area bands.

Hosted by Okra’s Louisiana Bistro restaurant, the festival has been

expanded this year to better handle the more than 5,000 people expected

to show up for the event.[more]

Budget

will not change tax rate

Staff

MANASSAS – Uncertainty about state funding and the economy prompted City

Manager Larry Hughes to propose a $69.6 million fiscal 2002 budget Monday

that holds tax rates steady and shows a 5.1 percent increase over fiscal

2001 expenditures.

The main question for the city budget is over state funding, Hughes said,

so his proposal has a $400,000 contingency in the event state funding is

cut this year.

“Stay tuned for the outcome of the state budget to see what that

contingency will be,” Hughes said.[more]

Statistics

By

Staff

Manassas bucked national crime trends in 2000, showing an increase while

the rate for the nation as a whole declined for the ninth straight year.

However, during a presentation of crime statistics to Manassas City Council

on Monday, Manassas Police Chief John Skinner said that “considering

this was the busiest year on record,” he was “pleased by the department

figures.”

Overall crime for 2000, including murder, rape, robbery, burglary and

aggravated assault, increased by 9 percent from 1999. This was a change

from previous years when police reported that crime was on the decrease.

Skinner did not believe the increase to be significant.[more]

Ambulance

fee plan denounced

By

Staff

volunteers provide for free.

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors ordered the association

to revisit the issue of ambulance fees and present a recommendation next

month, in time for 2002 budgeting.

A proposed fee structure, modeled on programs used in various Virginia

localities, would charge up to $350 for an ambulance ride to the hospital

– bringing nearly $2.5 million to the fire department each year.[more]

A

of survival

By

Staff

Amy Drewry/Staff Photographer

Anna Bruno, 10, a cancer survivor and spokesperson for

on JAMN 99.5 FM in her Gainesville home Friday.

GAINESVILLE – If someone tied Anna Bruno’s hands behind her back, she

probably wouldn’t be able to talk.

The 10-year-old Gainesville girl has an enthusiastic smile and likes

to liven her speech with laughter, facial expressions and hand gestures.

It’s hard to look at her and see someone who has been stricken with cancer.

But Anna has turned what could have been a tragedy into a platform for

promoting life, generosity and awareness. As a spokesperson for the Make-A-Wish

Foundation, she was featured on a radio-thon sponsored by JAMN 99.5 FM on

Friday and Saturday. Between playing music, the station featured taped and

live interviews with Wish children, to encourage listeners to make donations

and learn about the importance of the foundation.[more]