Newt-Berry Tiff: The Real StoryDear Neighbors: What about our dc.story autumn party? One of our participants agreed (was browbeat) into organizing the party. She’s on a business trip this week so don’t expect details until next week. ********** Regarding the statement about crime attributed to Mayor Barry published last week: I have no first hand proof that he said it. I retract it. ////\\\\\////\\\\////\\\\\/////\\\ } Also free! dc.movie: Short movie reviews and movie discussion. To subscribe, send an email message to story@intr.net and note the name of the newsletter in the subject line or body of the text. Cheers, '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' School Shmooze Come to SOUNDPRINT’s Tuesday night online chat series! The SOUNDPRINT Media Center is hosting a series of online discussions this election season, every Tuesday evening through November 5. On October 8 at 9:00 PM eastern time, Kathy Merritt of WAMU in Washington, D.C. hosts a discussion of the D.C. public school system. Her guests are Karen Shook, chair of the DC school board; Carrie Thornhill, a member of DC Committee on Public Education (COPE); and Don Reeves, a school board candidate from D.C.’s Ward 3. In an election season in which most issues are not receiving thoughtful attention, this is a great opportunity to examine an important topic. New technology _can_ be employed in the service of democracy… and that’s what we’re trying to do with this Internet discussion series. Please come tune in by logging on at http://soundprint.org/speakeasy at 9:00 PM eastern time. You need to have Netscape 2.0 to participate, but you don’t need to download any software — it’s really a simple process. ------ Newt-Barry Tiff. The Real Story Well, we know what the Post reported, but here’s the real story of the NewtBarry feud. Hiz honor invited Newt to dinner at home. Arriving, Newt found Cora had locked the front door — due to work on the Tony Williams Target Range. Newt had to go round to the back. One of several foster care workers detailed to target range building, told us a terrible fight ensued. Newt screamed — ‘do you know that back entrance insults the smartest man in DC?’ Barry, always tactful, asked Cora — ‘Gee, is Dick Morris coming?’ At that, Newt lost his cool. ‘I’ll show you, I’ll shut down the city government.’ ‘Nothing will move for years!’ Barry later denied responding, ‘been there, done that.’ Our foster source tells us what really steamed Barry was Newt’s threat to revoke a planned mayoral retreat to the Riddick Bo Center for Human Potential and Jury Selection Consulting. After that, the fight was on. ------ Jury Duty Tom Berry is not the only one with questions about jury duty. I recently moved to the District. Within one month of transferring my voter registration, I was received a summons for jury duty at DC’s Superior Court. Are city administrators concerned that I may move out before they can tap into my residential responsibilities? ******* Andrea Carlson BintaGay@aol.com Just one more little complaint. I was summoned for jury duty when my daughter was a year old. I didn’t have a babysitter. So I called to ask if they provided child care. They do, but only if your child is potty-trained. They gave me a deferment. And another. And another. And another. Eventually, I’ll either have to pay a babysitter for the privilege of participating in the justice system, or else entrust her to the hands of DC workers once she’s out of diapers. ------ Poetry
------- Motorcades Chelsea travels with a two car motorcade, but what was going on last night was King Hussein of Jordan went to the Cineplex Odeon on Wisc. and P.M. Netanyahu of Israel was floating around the Israeli embassy on Van Ness & Reno. Don’t forget all of the big wigs in town attending World Bank parties and soirees in their limos too. ------ A Man and a Van Chalk one up to efficiency on the part of Councilmember Kathy Patterson. She originally read in this electronic newspaper about a problem I had with a semi-abandoned van at 3314 Cathedral Ave., NW. With the help of a summer intern, Ashleigh Davis, and a regular staff member, Michelle Cole, Patterson badgered two DC government agencies. The agencies sent people out a number of times (don’t ask why: you don’t want to know about inefficiency, do you?) to check on the van. Finally, a real person spoke to the van’s owner and told him to clean up his act. He did so. We’re satisfied. Patterson came through. End of story. ------ Barriers in Barrytown Last weekend, I was taking a friend home who lives near Connecticut and Cathedral. It was around 9 p.m., and I noticed that wooden barriers were stretched across several intersections on Woodley, Calvert, and Cathedral. Signs were attached saying "Local Traffic Only." I noticed they were still there when I drove by again around just before midnight. I didn’t think much about it until yesterday, when I was driving home from work and noticed more of the same barriers and signs, this time located on the other side of Connecticut coming out of Rock Creek Park just under the Ellington Bridge. And this was around 5:30 p.m. I hope this is not the start of campaigns by local residents to restrict traffic in their areas. It is congested enough along too many thoroughfares to be told that rerouting to side streets is forbidden. Such an impasse now prevails in several northwest neighborhoods, including a stretch along Western Avenue between River Road toward Westmoreland Circle, where left hand turns into D.C. are prohibited at every intersection. This was the result of a campaign several years ago by AU residents to restrict traffic in their neighborhood, much to the inconvenience of drivers trying to take an easier and shorter route to Massachusetts Avenue. Given the fact that traffic patterns in the District have been allowed to fall into deep disarray in recent years because of a lack of proper planning, this is no time to allow ad hoc actions by ANCs or neighborhood groups to disrupt things further. ----- Crime The paranoia about DC is really incredible. If you think that Northwest DC residents are paranoid about parts of DC, you should talk to some people outside the city. I have been using a dating service for awhile, and I’ve had several men refuse to meet me because I live in DC. One guy from Manassas told me every time he’s come to DC he was mugged. We had a nice phone conversation but that was it. Another guy conceded to come in by Metro, even though I told him there’s plenty of parking on Saturday.. I met him at the Dupont Circle North entrance; he was pacing around like a cat in a roomful of rockers. "Rough neighborhood," he said. Colorful, maybe. If you’re afraid of black leather and strange pierced body parts. Sunday I was walking at 22nd and S and a friend took me around to show me the stairs and fountain. I was saddened to see a young man getting ready to shoot up. That is what is really killing this city as much as anything else. I’ve lived in DC and/or the suburbs for the past 15 years, and the only time I’ve had anything stolen was when I moved to Bethesda. My car radio was torched out of the dashboard. How can we generate some positive PR for DC? Oh by the way, Grill Fish is open! I had posted something earlier about Grill Fish and there were some responses. It is a restaurant with locations in Miami Beach and Boston. They specialize in grilled fresh fish dishes in a moderate price range ($10 - 14). The restaurant is located at New Hampshire Avenue off of M street NW, around the corner from Blackie’s .From the street, the interior looks quite attractive, with a grill and fire visible. I haven’t eaten there yet, but some readers had recommended the other locations. ----- Reporting Back on Recommendations Some of the discussion over the last few months has been about where to get your car fixed, and where to get your hair cut. I took dc.story advice on both counts and I thought I’d share the results. First the good news: Camillo’s, on Windom Place (St.?) near Tenley Circle, is a great little barbershop, where I’ve gotten the best high and tight flattops of my life. Thanks to those who steered me toward it. Now the bad news: the continuing saga of my truck. I took it to Distad’s on Capitol Hill, which someone here enthusiastically recommended. I can’t second the recommendation; they took two days to do very little work. Well, they were going to do more work — they called to tell me I needed it — but then they just didn’t do it. The truck ran marginally better after they tuned it up, but only marginally. The work they did was okay, but they didn’t do what I asked, didn’t do what they called to tell me I needed and I told them to go ahead and do, and took forever. They were pleasant, though. I won’t be back. Next stop: Spring Valley Exxon on Massachusetts Ave NW, another dc.story recommendation. They were a little better. They did a bunch of work on my exhaust, after which I failed the emissions part of the DC inspection. I called to see what we could do about it, and they said they couldn’t help me. I’m not impressed. So now I’m a little leery of dc.story mechanic recommendations. At this point I’m thinking of just getting a new vehicle, since I only wanted to get my old beater through the winter. I have my twenty days that I can drive around with the big red reject sticker on my windshield to decide. Anyone want an ugly but reliable ‘88 Mazda pickup that needs some TLC on its emissions? Anybody selling a newer compact pickup? Anybody want to share any great or awful experiences with car dealers? At least I have a good haircut… ------ Whitman Walker Clinic >From now until December 1996, Bell Atlantic, the company that provides your local telephone service in this area, will pay one percent of your local telephone charges to the Whitman Walker Clinic for the Clinic’s AIDS services activities. Bell Atlantic calls this program Community Threads. This has NO EFFECT whatsoever on your phone bill - you will still pay whatever you would normally pay for your phone service. Multiplied by MANY participants, the contribution will amount to a meaningful sum for worthwhile purposes in our area. The hard part: you must call Bell Atlantic at 1-800-334-BELL and ask to participate in "Community Threads." (Most of the time one would HAVE TO CALL if NOT interested in participating, but I guess a one percent business contribution at "no-cost to the customer" makes a difference). It is an easy, automated call which takes less than 5 minutes. Imagine the difference it could make if we could get EVERYONE in the Balto-Washington area to participate! So tell your friends, family and neighbors! Please also INCLUDE your fax and cell numbers, too. Connie Walker Clcwalker@aol.com ------ Any tutors, educational consultants/diagnosticians, optometrists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, or just plain psychotherapists want to join an organization of your own, meet others in your profession, network a la pizza at Uno’s (well, maybe not that swanky), attend lectures or panel discussions on topics relating to your field? I am talking about WISER, Washington Independent Services for Educational Resources, which meets once a month in some form and has many subgroups which meet and discuss topics relating to their field. WISER is about fifteen years old and is making its annual drive for nouveau blood. For more information, please write back or call me at 364-4263. Paul Penniman unclepaul@aol.com ------ The John Eaton Elementary School will be holding its 27th annual Block Party on October 19, 1996 from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. It’s tons of fun, bring your family and tell your neighbors. John Eaton is located at the corner of 34th and Lowell Streets. Leila.Afzal@noaa.gov ----- Starlight Masquerade Ball and Silent Auction Oct. 26 The Starlight Foundation — a charitable organization that grants special wishes (e.g., trips, celebrity meetings and other unique experiences) to seriously ill children and conducts hospital and other programs and activities to bring joy to ill children — is holding a grand masquerade ball and silent auction at the National Press Club (529 14th Street, 13th Floor), Saturday October 26 from 8 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are $45 and include light fare, dessert, a live band, dancing, giveaways, a costume contest and more. For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact Michael Karlan at mkarlan@cov.com or at (202) 363-4997. Michael Karlan mkarlan@cov.com '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' dc.market Home PC Computer Assistance. I’ll help you choose and buy the best model for the lowest price, get your computer up and running, teach you the ins and outs of Windows 95 and applications, show you how to maintain your system, build special applications for you, and get you up and running on the internet. $60/hour. 202.244.4163. Jeffrey Itell Story@intr.net |
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