Prince William County's Top 10 stories of 2010

As always, it was a year full of big news for Prince William County. In 2010, we saw extraordinary weather, devastating fires, major accomplishments in the arts, mysterious crimes and deaths both tragic and preventable.

We asked our readers to choose the biggest story of 2010 in an online poll. You voted overwhelmingly for the rare February blizzards that put a freeze on the region - shutting down everything from schools to the federal government. It's the one story that dramatically impacted each of us, and brought us together. Neighbors pitched in to dig out neighbors, firefighters and police officers risked their lives to reach us in emergencies, power crews from all over the East Coast came to help get the electricity back on. Last winter is one we won't soon forget and it tops our list of the Top 10 stories of the year in the Prince William region.

Snowpocalypse!
Back-to-back blizzards buried the Washington area in February -- closing the federal government and all local airports, knocking out power and collapsing the Dale City Ice Center under an avalanche of snow.

The month's two major storms struck five days apart, turning Prince William County into a snow-blown tundra looking nothing like the Northern Virginia we're used to. The blizzards following a Dec. 19, 2009 snowstorm that dumped 20 inches around the Washington area, a rarity for the area, especially so early in the winter season.

The Dale City Ice Center collapsed under heavy snow during the Feb. 6 storm, just moments after practicing speed skaters got off the ice. In November, the owners broke ground on a new center, which they expect it to be complete and open by July.

The record-breaking snowfall also threatened to collapse the roof at Mayfield Intermediate School in Manassas. Students had to attend class elsewhere through the rest of the year while the roof was repaired. Mayfield reopened at the start of the school year in September.

The monster February storms ensured a spot in the weather record-books for the area's winter of 2009-2010. According to the National Weather Service, 72.8 inches of snow fell at Dulles International Airport between December and February. The average yearly snowfall for the Washington area is 17 inches.

Nun's death reignites immigration debate
A car crash that killed a Benedictine nun and seriously injured two others captured the area's attention in August.

Carlos Martinelly Montano, 23, an illegal immigrant from Bolivia, was charged with felony murder and several other offenses after the Aug. 1 crash.

Police said Martinelly was driving drunk when he slammed head on into a car carrying the three nuns, killing Sister Denise Mosier, 66, and seriously injuring nuns Charlotte Lange, 75, and Connie Ruth Lupton, 70.

Martinelly's arrest sparked an outcry against illegal immigration after officials discovered that he was awaiting deportation at the time of the crash.

At the time of the crash, Martinelly had two prior arrests for drunken driving. He was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials after his prior arrests, but was released while he awaited deportation hearings.

Martinelly is set to stand trial in March.

Military shooter puts us in crosshairs
The hunt continues for the mystery military shooter who took shots at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the Pentagon and other area military targets between Oct. 17 and Nov. 1.

The first shooting happened Oct. 17 at the museum off U.S. 1 in Triangle. Police believe the gunman struck from Interstate 95. Bullets shattered the distinctive glass roof of the museum, narrowly missing artifacts inside.

The next shooting came Oct. 19 at the Pentagon. The FBI said six or seven shots were fired that morning just before 5 a.m., leaving the Pentagon security force scrambling to find where the bullets were coming from. All roads around the defense fortress were immediately shut down, but the gunman wasn't found.

The next shots came Oct. 26 at a Marine Corps recruiting center in Chantilly, then the Marine museum was hit again Oct. 29. The last shooting was Nov. 1 at the Coast Guard recruiting center by Potomac Mills in Woodbridge.

There have been no more shootings.

In all the cases, the shooter struck late at night or early in the morning, when no one was likely to be around. No one was hurt in any of the incidents and the FBI has never identified a suspect. They say the shooter was likely a former or current Marine somehow disgruntled with the military.

They are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the shooter.

Jewel in Prince William's arts world
After years of planning and fund-raising, the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas  finally opened May 1 to much fanfare.

Dedicated to bringing a world-class performing arts venue to the Prince William region, the center was born out of a partnership among Prince William County, George Mason University, the City of Manassas, the Commonwealth of Virginia and individuals and businesses in the private sector.

Soaring more than nine stories and boasting a mix of copper, glass and masonry, the 85,000-square foot center is home to two performances venues for local arts as well as an art gallery.

The Didlake Grand Foyer with its sweeping staircase offers a setting for community, corporation and social events.

The center is named for the Cecil D. and Irene V. Hylton Foundation of Dale City.
Located on Mason's Prince William campus, the $46 million structure has already provided a unique setting for local arts groups and performers from around the world, while also giving an economic boost to the region.

Blaze damages eight Manassas homes
On Sept. 22, fire broke out on the deck of a house on Tillett Loop in Manassas. It soon became an inferno that engulfed eight homes in the Sumner Lake subdivision off Plantation Drive.

Eleven people were displaced in the blaze, which destroyed three homes and seriously damaged five more. Fire investigators determined that a cigarette disposed of improperly in a potted plant sparked the blaze.

The fire spread fast in part because of the proximity of houses and the type of building materials used, fire officials said. The houses on Tillett Loop are between 10 and 14 feet apart and are wood-framed structures covered in vinyl siding.

The community rallied in the aftermath of the blaze -- the worst in terms of property damage in at least 50 years for Manassas.

People from around the county donated clothes, furniture, money and gift cards at the Sumner Lake Community Center and nearby churches to help those left homeless by the blaze.

The homes destroyed are still being rebuilt.

Gang attack takes teen's life
Osbourn High School freshman Mickey Hernandez wasn't in a gang. But on Nov. 19 he was targeted by gang members, police say, and stabbed to death as he walked home from school. The 14-year-old was jumped in the middle of the afternoon as dozens of other Osbourn students watched in horror.

Two teens, one from Manassas and the other from Fairfax, have been charged with murder and gang participation in his death.

Police say the killing may have been the reason for a second stabbing a day later at the Grant Avenue Shopping Center adjacent to Georgetown South, where Hernandez lived with his parents.

After the stabbings, city police and members of the Northern Virginia Gang Task Force cracked down on Georgetown South with increased patrols on the streets and helicopters hovering at night.

In the aftermath, the Manassas City Police Department set up a Gang Prevention Summit aimed at deterring gang involvement in the area and educating the community.

The event is scheduled for Jan. 17 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club at 9501 Dean Park Lane in Manassas. Both the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force and local law enforcement will be represented.

Final justice
Eleven years after killing a 16-year-old Yorkshire girl and bragging about it in a letter to prosecutors, Paul Warner Powell died in Virginia's electric chair for his crimes.
Powell, 31, was executed in March.

Veteran detectives and prosecutors called Powell's crimes among the worst they'd seen. In January 1999, Powell confronted 16-year-old Stacie Reed in her family's Yorkshire home. He stabbed her and stomped on her throat until she died. He then waited in the house, drinking iced tea and smoking a cigarette, until her 14-year-old sister Kristie came home from school. He tied her up, raped her and stabbed her and left her to die in the basement.
Kristie survived and testified against Powell.

After her eldest daughter's death, Lorraine Reed Whoberry started the S.T.A.C.I.E. Foundation to tell her family's story in seminars to law enforcement agencies around the country.

She said she has forgiven Powell, but felt the execution was necessary for justice to be served.

Local soldier dies overseas
The Prince William region lost a soldier this year to the war in Afghanistan. In December, 22-year-old Army Private Sean Cutsforth was killed by small arms fire on foot patrol - leaving behind his wife and unborn baby boy.

Cutsforth was a Brentsville District High School graduate and had been a talented athlete growing up. He competed with the Ben Lomond Swim Team and played football and baseball at Benton Middle School and at Brentsville, and with the Greater Manassas Football League and the Greater Manassas Baseball League as a kid.

Besides his wife and parents, Sean Cutsforth is survived by his older brother, Ryan, and sisters Casey Torrez and Kayla Cutsforth.

"We're very proud, and we can just hope in the grand scheme this means something," his father Robert Cutsforth said. "Right now, we can just cherish the memories. I know he did good in the world."

KK's causes uproar in Old Town

Kim and Kristina Skokan sparked controversy this September as they planned the opening of KK's Temptations on Battle Street in Manassas.

When word got out that the mother-and daughter team planned to open the store that would sell adult novelties, vibrators, DVDs, lotions and lingerie, the Manassas City Council called a special meeting.

Roughly 200  people attended to protest the store's mid-October opening.

Dozens protested against the store during the city's Fall Jubilee celebration in early October.

The complaints about the store were that KK's Temptations would bring an undesirable element to Old Town Manassas and that children would be subjected to things their parents didn't want them to see.

At the time Kim Skokan said she didn't understand the fuss.

"I don't think that many sketchy men are going to be coming into a boutique that has fake eyelashes and wigs, women's shoes, women's pajamas,  and women's G-strings," the 40-year-old Skokan said at the time.

As a result of the discontent, the council wrote a temporary ordinance to regulate "sexually oriented businesses" and commissioned a $72,000 study to determine the "negative second effects" such businesses would have on the community.

During a special city council meeting, Manassas City Attorney, Robert W. Bendall said that although having an sexually oriented business in Old Town was akin to having a "pig in the parlor" there wasn't much the city could do to stop KK's from opening.

The city council could have a permanent ordinance in place to regulate future adult businesses by February.

Manassas champion dies
Creston Owen, a Manassas businessman described as "larger than life" and as a "force of nature," died Nov. 30 from a gunshot wound at his farm in Catlett. The Fauquier County Sheriff's Office said he appeared to be cleaning a firearm.

Owen, 45, was a driving force in the city as an officer with Historic Manassas Inc., and president and CEO of Falcon Communications Solutions. He was one of the biggest champtions behind plans for 2011's Civil War sesquicentennial and the recipient of an abundance of community awards. In all, Owen had been honored with 20 business and community awards for his work in the Manassas area.

But to family and friends he was simply known as CMO, father and husband.