Bonnie Hobbs

With more than 25 years experience in journalism, I’ve written and edited newspapers in California, North Carolina and Virginia. In California, I worked for a weekly paper in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I’m from originally.

In North Carolina, I worked two years (1990-92) at the Sun Journal, a daily paper in New Bern. There, I covered county government, commercial fishing – which is a big industry there – and the Gulf War.

New Bern is near the Marine Corps Air Station in Havelock, so I did lots of stories on the effects the war had on the wives and children left behind while the husbands and dads were fighting in Iraq. As one elementary-school teacher told me, “If one child’s father or mother is killed, the security for the rest of the students is shattered.”

In addition, my photographer and I were lowered by helicopter onto the USS Iwo Jima as it returned to port in Morehead City after deployment. I got to interview the sailors and Marines aboard ship and experience, firsthand, their welcome back by local residents who greeted them in the water in hundreds of small boats to escort them home.

I also interviewed parents of Marines killed in the war, as well as a Marine pilot whose aircraft had been shot down overseas. He spoke about what went through his mind while parachuting into the desert and what happened to him while he was a POW. Luckily, it was toward the end of the war and he was eventually freed to return home.

I also worked three years for the Prince William Journal, covering the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, as well as a slew of criminal cases. And I’ve been with Centre View for almost 19 years, covering Centreville, Chantilly, Clifton, Fair Oaks and Fair Lakes. For the past few years, I’ve also covered Fairfax and some of Lorton and Fairfax Station for the Connection.

Recent Stories

Funny, Joyful Show Aims to Brings Happiness

Woodson High presents the musical, ‘Mamma Mia!’

Theater, Dance, Music, Fashion, More

Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts Festival spans two weekends.

Arts Festival

Jackson Russell: Sully Police Officer of the Year

Honored for strong work ethic, dedication to the job.

PFC Jackson Russell is the Sully District Police Station’s 2024 Officer of the Year.

What’s Planned for the George Snyder Trail

Named after a former Fairfax City mayor, the George Snyder Trail is planned to be a shared-use trail connecting Chain Bridge Road (Route 123) to the Wilcoxon Trail at Draper Drive, south of Fairfax Boulevard (Route 50). It’s also intended to be ADA-compliant, with some sections porous asphalt and others, concrete boardwalk.