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March 14, 2007

Questioned Rights

Dear Mayor Fenty and Interim Attorney General Singer:

In the last issue of themail (http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2007/07-03-11.htm), I wrote that both of you, along with Mayor Williams and his Attorney General, Robert Spagnoletti, should be blamed for the argument made by the DC government both in the Parker and Seegars cases that the Second Amendment to the Constitution does not apply to residents of the District of Columbia, and that citizens of DC do not and should not have all the rights of other citizens of the United States. In the current issue of themail, Art Spitzer disagrees with me (http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2007/07-03-14.htm#spitzer), and writes that it’s not fair to attribute that view to either of you because you have not filed any court papers espousing it. I, on the other hand, believe that you should be held responsible for a legal position taken by the DC government if you have not explicitly repudiated it.

Therefore, I want to give you the opportunity to state whether you believe that citizens of the District of Columbia do possess and are entitled to protection under the Constitution equal to that granted to all other citizens of the United States, and to full enjoyment of the rights of citizenship protected in the Bill of Rights. If you do, will you pledge to repudiate the argument made by the District of Columbia under the Williams administration that DC citizens are not entitled to any Second Amendment rights, and — should you seek rehearing or Supreme Court review of the US Court of Appeals decision in Parker — to abandon and refute that argument explicitly in any of your filings?

I look forward to your reply, and I promise to print your position in a future issue of themail when I receive it.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Fenty’s Way, and a Better Way, to Fix our Schools
Jay Silberman, silbermans@aol.com

[City council testimony on Mayor Fenty’s school takeover plan] I read from a Washington Post editorial: “The District public school system is in a condition of crisis. In personnel and in plant, it is inadequate to the pupil population it is supposed to serve. . . . Washington’s children are being cheated . . . denied their educational birthright.” The date? Not today, or yesterday. Not five years ago, or ten, or twenty. The editorial is from November 23, 1955. There is an ancient dictum from Hippocrates: “First, do no harm.” Frontiersman David Crockett’s version was: “First, be sure you are right. Then go ahead.”

Are you certain, absolutely sure, that the “District of Columbia Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007,” Bill 17-0001 is right, and will do no harm? You are a deliberative body; let’s deliberate on this. Or, as the citizenry might glean from press reports and from some of your statements, has the train already left the station? Is this bad bill a done deal?

When the previous mayor, Mr. Williams, proposed what Mr. Fenty is now proposing, Mr. Fenty criticized such a takeover of the schools. Mr. Fenty had it right and well-reasoned the first time. Mr. Fenty did not propose or advocate a takeover when he was running for mayor. His education position paper — which was fairly good and for which I complimented him when he knocked on my door — made no mention of any plan or intent for a takeover. Only after the election did he announce his change of mind. What changed his mind is not clear, or readily apparent. He does say that he has acted because so many citizens, during the campaign, urged that he “do something” to help boost the schools. But that widespread desire for “doing something” to improve schools doesn’t translate to “just do anything” and it absolutely does not justify a plan-less, road-map-less, train-track-less seizure of power or permanent rewrite of our government’s structure under the home rule charter. [Full testimony online at http://www.dcpswatch.com/mayor/070220e.htm]

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School Board Candidate Martin Levine
Jeff Norman, jeffrey.norman@att.net

My friend, Martin Levine, is a candidate in the May 1 special election to fill a vacancy on the DC Board of Education for District 2, which covers Wards 3 and 4. He will work to bring meaningful, lasting improvements in DC’s long-suffering public education system. Martin is a native Washingtonian and a graduate of DC public schools. He has been a student teacher in high school, a university professor, and an education policy analyst. He has mentored students at a northeast high school in DC and served on the Lafayette Elementary School Home and School Association board. This is his second campaign for this seat. When he ran in 2000, The Washington Post said: “Mr. Levine’s more analytical approach to educational problems serves him well, too. His solid foundation of knowledge would make him a valuable addition to a board that needs a topflight prober.”

Martin will work full-time as a Board member to bring real change to DC’s schools. On the Board he will: 1) Ensure that parents’ concerns are heard and acted on promptly by holding frequent school meetings and creating an interactive web site; 2) address unconscionable health and safety defects in our schools, including fixing all bathrooms by opening of schools in 2008; and 3) develop partnerships with civic organizations, universities, and corporations so every school has mentors, tutors, and curriculum enrichment available by 2008.

Martin looks forward to earning your trust and vote on May 1. You can learn more about him and his views at Levine2007.com; and he can be reached at Martin@Levine2007.com. If you are a registered voter in either Ward 3 or Ward 4, please vote for Martin Levine in the May 1 special election.

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Residents, Labor Reps Review DC Noise Fix
David Klavitter, klav at questforquiet.org

Led by Councilmembers Tommy Wells and Mary Cheh, representatives of the H and 8th Street, NE, community and labor unions are reviewing legislative language drafted by Acting Attorney General Linda Singer’s office to fix the District of Columbia’s broken noise ordinance. The action follows a January 30 meeting of the groups to address mutual concerns in an effort to close the gaping loophole in the city noise law. Added to the DC statute in 2004, the current language exempts from city noise regulations noncommercial amplified speech anywhere in the city between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Mayor Adrian Fenty said he supports the noise fix.

This provision, of course, is a great benefit to those wishing to express themselves freely — including Washington’s labor community. However, H Street NE residents and businesses are held captive nearly every Saturday by one unreasonable group’s amplifier, which blasts noncommercial speech for more than four hours at decibels between 85 and 105 — levels that approach the volume of a rock concert. Labor leaders have affirmed their cooperation with the H Street, NE, community and the city to resolve the problem. The northeast residents and businesses are unwavering in their support for free speech, assembly, and religion. However, we also believe "every person is entitled to ambient noise levels that are not detrimental to life to life, health, and enjoyment of his or her property," as stated in the DC municipal code.

While every urban dweller must expect a certain amount of noise, the issue of health and safety is of extreme concern. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “a 24-hour exposure level of 70 decibels as the level of environmental noise which will prevent any measurable hearing loss over a lifetime. . . . Likewise, levels of 55 decibels outdoors and 45 decibels indoors are identified as preventing activity interference and annoyance. These levels of noise are considered those which will permit spoken conversation and other activities such as sleeping, working and recreation, which are part of the daily human condition.” Let’s urge the city council to craft a solution which does not disturb either DC residents’ hearing or speech. Learn more at http://www.questforquiet.org.

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Red Light and Speed Cameras, and Contracts
Clyde Howard ceohoward@hotmail.com

I have said it before and I will say it again, our DC government is operated by total idiots. If brains were dynamite they couldn’t blow their collective noses. How could they write a contract with a vender that requires the vender to comply with certain requirements of the contract, without having oversight authority and quality control. A vender charged with the responsibility of maintaining parking meters and traffic cameras that is not performing its job according to the contract should be punished according to the penalty clauses contained in the contract, provided the contracting officer was smart enough to have such clauses in the contract. Likewise, the departments with oversight authority should be dealt with accordingly. It just goes to show that our government is focused on money and not on the upfront requirements needed to assure that the source is maintained, which will keep a constant flow of revenue into the coffers of the government. What do you think will happen when Fenty’s marauding pals get their hands on the lucrative contracts of the school system? If you believe that there will be oversight and quality control on the contracts that their pals will get, I have a Brooklyn Bridge to sell you.

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MPD Survey
Keith Jarrell, Keith.jarrell@rcn.com

I must say that I do appreciate the MPD’s approach to community policing and their quest to offer the public the opportunity to complete a survey.

However, I am somewhat concerned that the survey did not make any mention or offer any specific place for the community’s thoughts on the rate of unsolved murders in our city. The fact that the MPD continues to have a very poor performance rate in homicide closures. With this being totally eliminated from the survey is it that the powers that be within the MPD wish to sweep these statistics under the rug or do they deem them not to be important?

After completing the survey I have written and asked for some answers, one of which is merely who designed the survey.

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Fenty Not Responsible for Ill-Advised Argument in Gun Control Case
Art Spitzer, artspitzer at aol dot com

Our esteemed editor and publisher writes that “two mayors of the District of Columbia and their respective Attorneys General” made the argument that “the District of Columbia is not a state, and should not be treated as a state” in the Second Amendment-gun control case decided by the federal court of appeals last week (themail, March 11).

It’s fair to blame Mayor Williams and his Attorney General for making this ill-advised argument. They made it. But it’s not fair to pin any blame on Mayor Fenty and his Attorney General. The briefs in this case were filed many months before they took office. The case was submitted to the court for decision in 2006. One cannot expect a new administration to review the briefs already filed in pending cases, checking to see if there’s something they don’t like. Holding Mayor Fenty responsible for the contents of legal briefs filed before he took office is like holding him responsible for David Rosenbaum’s death.

There will be additional papers filed in this case. The District of Columbia is not required to continue pushing this argument just because it did so earlier. If it does, that will be the time to blame Mayor Fenty and Attorney General Singer.

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DC Is Not a State
Clyde Howard, ceohoward@hotmail.com

The District of Columbia is not a state, but it is a territory. The Territory of the District of Columbia should not be confused as being the City of Washington. The City of Washington is bounded by Florida Avenue, or rather Boundary Avenue is the northern boundary of the official City. On September 8, 1791, at a meeting in Georgetown, Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State, and James Madison, then a representative from Virginia, met the commissioners of the Federal City at the request of George Washington. The subject of this meeting was the “Name of City and Territory.” It was suggested by James Madison that the name should be “the City of Washington and Territory of Columbia.” On the next day, September 9, 1791, the commissioners wrote to Maj. L’Enfant in Philadelphia that all agreed that the Federal District shall be called “The Territory of Columbia and the Federal City of Washington.” The name appeared officially with the sanction of President George Washington, and he directed the commissioners to begin sales of lots in the terms and conditions declared by Washington for improvements in the City of Washington, dated October 17, 1791. The legislature of Maryland on December 14, 1791, recognized the name in an act concerning the Territory of Columbia and the City of Washington.

Were you aware that in 1871, there was a territorial form of government that included a governor and eleven members appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate and the House. In 1874, the plan was abolished and three commissioners were appointed by the President as a provisional form of government. In 1878, a permanent form of government was authorized by the President and Congress.

So please do not confuse the Territory of the District of Columbia with the City of Washington, because they are separated by boundaries yet governed by a single form of government, the mayor. Oh, there is one more tidbit of information: once there was a Supreme Court for the Federal City of Washington and the Territory of the District of Columbia, just like the states.

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Equal Rights
Bill Coe, bceedeec@aol.com

The emergent linkage of DC’s voting rights to the Second Amendment produces a truly fascinating constitutional and legal dilemma. Our courts, in the past few years, have cleverly tried to construct a Hobson’s choice, both for Congress and for the District: Either the dignity of congressional representation together with such onerous freedoms as the individual right to keep and bear arms, or the indignity of being mere colonists, able perhaps to avoid such obligations as ensuring the right to bear arms or even paying federal taxes.

I’m all for dignity and gun slinging; it would be wonderful for us to pursue the gun rights debate as full-fledged pistol-packing citizens, along with the states. However, as long as we do reside in this benighted colony, we might more creatively exploit our extra-constitutional status. By conferring on DC a murky jurisdiction, the courts are trying to do us a favor and give us a card to play. If we go with the flow and push harder for exceptions to the general rules (such as the Second Amendment or the Tax Code), we might finally put some helpful pressure on Congress and persuade them to bring DC into the fold. To date, we haven’t done enough in this direction.

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No Guns for DC
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com

I was in Oregon and Washington when the US Court of Appeals handed down its decision. Outraged barely describes my emotions and those with whom I spoke in those states, who could not comprehend how those who live in DC were treated so strangely. On the one hand, the Court views DC as a state; on the other, we are not. We have rights, it seems, to kill each other -- or maybe the Court thought we would hunt the many rats loose in the District — but not to have voting representation. I agree: if we all are not outraged and speak up — on both issues — we are not doing anything to proclaim our citizenship. How do we rally more people to even think this is important and then to do something?

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Gun Rights
Harold Foster, harold.foster@ppd.mncppc.org

This isn’t what some — perhaps most — people who know me would expect me to say about Parker v. District of Columbia, but I applaud the decision of the three-judge panel of the US District Court of Appeals. I frankly suspect that either the full appeals court panel will reverse this decision, upholding the DC handgun ban (among other things), or the Supreme Court well reverse it if or when they get this case. But I at least find some therapeutic benefit from having some jurists finally agree with me that the DC handgun ban is what Winston Churchill called the Versailles Treaty in 1919: malignant and silly.

The only people this law ever literally deterred were those law-abiding citizens who, by definition, were law-abiding enough to respect the law’s strictures in the first place. As a (now out of business) gun shop owner once told me when we finished the paperwork on a rifle purchase: “Now, I want you to realize that all of the criminals will come in here and register their guns also.”

In the eighteen years before this silly and malignant law was passed, only one legally-registered handgun in the District had been used in a crime and that gun had been stolen from, and reported as stolen by, the legal owner. Since this law has been in effect, we have had at least four statistically significant crime waves during which DC rivaled Detroit, Miami, and New Orleans as the unsolved homicide capital of this country, and we may be on the cusp of a fifth wave with the general deterioration in the local economy. Were these crime waves demonstrably less severe or catastrophic in their effect on this city because all the handguns used in those crimes were just as illegal as they would have been anyway, had the 1976 handgun ban never been put into effect?

All that said, I do not applaud groups like the NRA, which, of course, have a broader political agenda of their own that I do not agree with, that came in at the fifty-ninth minute of the eleventh hour to support the Parker plaintiffs. Because, we wouldn’t have had to wait this long to get a definitive ruling overturning this law, if they had used the correct arguments in the first court challenges of this handgun ban back in 1977 and 1978, instead of the racist argument they did use (that the home rule government here didn’t have the authority to pass the law in the first place.)

The most dispositive constitutional argument against this kind of law was not — and is not — whatever we can finally agree as a society the Second Amendment actually says about a citizen’s’ right to keep and bear arms. (Good book on the subject: A Well Regulated Militia). The most telling constitutional rebuttal of any broad-brush law like this is that it is founded on an irrebuttable presumption. By saying that no DC resident could ever register any handgun at any time for any reason, this law creates an insurmountable disability that no DC citizen, no matter how law biding and sterling his or her public conduct is, can ever overcome. Whatever courts have or have not said in the past about the Second Amendment, they have been far clearer and far more consistent that the state — any state — can only impose irrebuttable presumptions on citizens when there is a compelling and substantially permanent state purpose that is served by doing so. Where I, as an African-American, actually find the racism in all this is in the somewhat racially colored presumption that there is a compelling and city interest in permanently disabling over 300,000 otherwise law-abiding adult residents with regards to their right to own a handgun.

I could run on and on, but I think the core arguments have already been presented. And, clearly, they were placed before this three-judge panel far better than I just have. Suffice it to say that, although in the long run I have no doubt that this law will somehow survive in substantially its present malignant and silly form, I at least find this present victorious skirmish some short-term comfort.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Solidarity with Oaxaca Fundraiser, March 16
Andrew Willis, willisa at gmail dot com

There will be a fundraiser for the ASAR-O Artists Collective and CASA Chapulin, Solidarity with Oaxaco: Art and Music Celebrating Popular Struggle, on Friday, March 16, at 7 p.m., at the Universalist National Memorial Church, 1810 16th Street, NW (at S Street, NW, near the Dupont Circle and U Street Metros). Admission will be $5-$10 on a sliding scale.

Celebrating and supporting the struggle for democracy in the Mexican state of Oaxaca initiated by Section 22 of the Mexican teachers’ union and the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO)., the fundraiser will feature an exhibit and art sale of original prints and stencils from the ASAR-O artists’ collective in Oaxaca, and T-shirts by local artist Amauta Ollantay Marston-Firmino; video footage from the recent popular mobilizations, and revolutionary Salvadoran music by La Nueva Cosecha. La Nueva Cosecha of the Asociacion Cultura Milpa is a multigenerational group that make use of a variety of traditional instruments including donkey’s jawbone, cajon, Andean pan pipes, kena, accordion, and violin in addition to guitar, percussion, etc.

There will also be refreshments, food, and dancing. ASAR-O is a collective of artists dedicated to making accessible popular art that reflects the demands and vision of the popular struggle in Oaxaca. Using art as a tool of resistance, the artists face serious repression. As recently as January 22, one member of the collective was arrested for drawing in public, beaten and jailed; he has since been released, but threats of repression and violence continue. CASA Chapulin (Colectivos de Apoyo, Solidaridad y Acción) is an international solidarity organization supporting local autonomous struggles in Oaxaca, Chiapas and the US. All funds raised will go to the ASAR-O artists’ collective to support their work, maintain a new multi-use studio space and establish a new youth training program and the solidarity work of CASA. Sponsored by CASA, Asociacion Cultura Milpa, and Left Turn. Contact: willisa [at] gmail [dot] com or visit http://www.colectivocasa.org/oaxacaresiste.

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DC Public Library Events, March 16-17
Randi Blank, randi.blank@dc.gov

Friday, March 16, 12:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Great Hall. The Morehouse College Glee Choir presents a concert in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Saturday, March 17, 12:00-4:00 p.m., Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Library, 3660 Alabama Avenue, SE. Chili cook-off, book and bake sale. The ninth annual event is cosponsored with the Friends of Francis A. Gregory Library. Participants can sample several chili recipes provided by the Friends. Donated books and bake goods will be on sale. All ages. Call 645-4297 for more information.

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Book Sale, March 17-18
Jill Bogard, jill_bogard@ace.nche.edu

The Friends of the Cleveland Park Library will hold their annual Spring Book Sale on Saturday and Sunday, March 17 and 18, at the Cleveland Park Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue at Macomb Street, NW, from noon to 4:00 p.m. each day (one block south of Cleveland Park Metro red line).

We have thousands of almost new and "previously owned" books, ranging from recent bestsellers to out-of-print treasures, fiction and nonfiction. Most books are priced at $1.00 for hard covers, $.50 for paperbacks. Paperback mysteries, romances, and science fiction, as well as children’s paperbacks, and foreign language books are priced at $.10 each. We also have lots of “special” items — coffee table books, large format art books, etc., that are individually priced. And yes, we have CD’s, tapes (music and books, and videos, as well as some sheet music. All items have been donated by our neighbors and sale proceeds benefit our branch library.

Please note, we ask that no books be donated this week prior to the sale. We’re busy setting up and can’t deal with new donations. For more information, contact Nathalie Black at nvblack@earthlink.net or 362-3599.

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National Building Museum Events, March 17, 19
Lauren Searl, lsearl@nbm.org

Saturdays, March 17-May 12, 10:00 a.m.-3:00 a.m. Students between the ages of 12 and 18 are invited to join the Museum’s Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP) for this special semester during which participants will design and construct theater scenery for use by actors from the Folger Shakespeare Library. Participants will expand their art and design abilities as they engage in this hands-on project. Free. For an application, contact Outreach Programs at 272-2448, ext. 3301 or dap@nbm.org.

Monday, March 19, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Film: Chicago: City of the Big Shoulders. The multi-part PBS series Edens Lost and Found highlights practical solutions to improve the environment and quality of life in cities, for ourselves and future generations. This sixty-minute episode (2006) focuses on Chicago’s commitment to open space and sustainable design as it becomes a laboratory for green architecture in the United States. This film is presented as part of the DC Environmental Film Festival. $5 Museum members and students; $10 nonmembers. Prepaid registration is required. Walk-in registration based on availability. For festival information, visit http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org. Special rate for NBM members: $10 for all three Environmental Film Festival screenings. Sign up at http://www.nbm.org. At the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line.

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ACLU Documentary Screening, March 19
Elizabeth Rose, Lrose@dcaclu.org

The American Civil Liberties Union will hold a screening of “Larry v. Lockney,” a documentary about Larry Tannahill, the Texas farmer who successfully sued his sons’ school district for requiring mandatory drug testing of high school students. Tannahill, whom the ACLU represented, will be speaking after the film, along with ACLU Drug Law Reform Project Director Graham Boyd and "Larry v. Lockney" Co-Producer Jim Schermbeck. ACLU Washington Legislative Office Director Caroline Fredrickson will introduce the film. No tickets are required, but reservations are strongly encouraged.

Monday, March 19, 6 p.m., University of the District of Columbia School of Law, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Building 39, Room 201. Contact the ACLU of the National Capital Area for questions and reservations at 457-0800. For more information about mandatory drug testing, visit the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project:

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Workshop on DC Neighborhood History, March 28
Matthew Gilmore, dchist@hotmail.com

For anyone interested in the history of the District and its neighborhoods, Matthew Gilmore, coeditor of H-DC, a Washington, DC, history discussion list and web site, will be offering a workshop for doing neighborhood history offering historical background, research techniques, and describing the sources. The workshop will take place in the Washingtoniana Division of the DC Public Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room 307, on March 28 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. A tour of the division will follow and a chance to work with some of the sources discussed.

Mr. Gilmore, formerly a staff member of the Washingtoniana Division, will highlight the variety of tools and sources (maps, microfilm, books) available for documenting neighborhoods in Washington, DC, both in the Washingtoniana Division itself and at a number of other institutions throughout the city. Mr. Gilmore has been offering workshops since 1997. For a peek at some of the sources discussed, check out: http://www.h-net.org/~dclist/neighNew4.pdf. This is the first in an ongoing series of workshops which will also cover with building and family history. The workshop is free, but registration is requested and limited to twenty people. For more information, to register, and to indicate your neighborhood of interest, please E-mail dc-edit@mail.h-net.msu.edu. The Martin Luther King Library is at 901 G Street, NW, and the Washingtoniana Division on the third floor in room 307. The phone number for the Division is 727-1213.

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David Vladeck and Judge Pat Wald at UDC, March 29
Joe Libertelli, jlibertelli@udc.edu

Please join us for the first annual Mary Hynes/Beth Goodman lecture, Thursday, March 29. Reception at 5:30 p.m., program at 6-7:30 p.m. Speaker, David Vladeck; honoree, Judge Pat Wald. At the UDC David Clarke School of Law, Building 38, 2nd Floor, Window Room. Free of charge. RSVP: Jlibertelli@udc.edu.

This is the first annual Mary Hynes-Beth Goodman Memorial Lecture and award ceremony. Mary taught in the Juvenile and Special Education Law Clinic at the UDC Clarke School of Law. Beth, an Antioch School of Law graduate and a leading special education attorney, was one of the founders of COPAA — the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. David Vladeck, Georgetown Law professor and former director of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, was the parents’ attorney in the 2006 Murphy case in the US Supreme Court.

We will be honoring Judge Pat Wald, recognizing (among other things) her instrumental role in the creation of federal special education law. We will also be kicking off our campaign to raise money for law students to work during the summer of 2007 as Hynes-Goodman Fellows in child advocacy organizations. So, please contact Joe Tulman at JTulman@udc.edu if you are interested in having one of our law students work in your organization this summer and also, please consider making a financial contribution to this effort!

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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING

Artist Needs Housing for March 20-24
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com

A friend, a former NEA Fellow in Washington state, asked me to see if I could find housing for a colleague who is going to be in DC for a conference and to lobby for the arts. He’s arriving on March 20. He’s glad, I hear, to sleep on a couch or floor, is polite and clean and nice, and just needs a nonsmoking place where he can stay — near Metro and/or downtown — for three to four nights. Please contact him directly: Wes Andrews, E-mail wes@kpcenter.org.

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Furnished Home for Rent, Chevy Chase, DC
Philip Greene, pgreene@doc.gov

Three to four bedrooms, 2.5 bath, lovely wooded setting in Rock Creek Park, near Chevy Chase Circle and Friendship Heights shopping and Metro, steps to Metrobus, very nice home and neighbors. Big, recently modernized kitchen with family room and breakfast area attached. Air conditioning, central heat, fireplace, screened porch, patio, fenced in yard with playset/swings. Finished basement family room. Wireless broadband capable. No pets, no smoking. Renter pays utilities. Great for a family or individuals. Available mid-April to either September or end of December 2007. Photos on request. $2750 per month.

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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE

Hopkins Maps of DC
Paul K. Williams, DCHouseHistory@aol.com

A rare opportunity indeed! A complete set of forty-four original GM Hopkins from 1887. These forty-four maps document each and every square inch of today’s Washington, DC, boundaries and show buildings, construction material, paving, etc., in each of the hand colored maps. These are rare indeed, and the eBay auction is for the complete, entire set of forty-four maps. They are large in size, measuring nearly 2x3 feet. See eBay auction item No 150100416409, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150100416409. This auction closes on Monday, March 19.

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Bayliner Boat
Erica Nash, enash@starpower.net

Great deal: 2006 Bayliner 185 BR Runabout, $12,800. Excellent condition; used only five times for two hours each time. This boat is still like it was in the showroom; brand new. Bought from the showroom of a Baltimore dealer in April 2006.

I’m selling because I would like to invest in a wheelchair accessible boat. It comes with many customized extras, including a new galvanized trailer, freshly painted bottom, bow cover, stern cover, Bimini top, depth finder, radio, CD stereo, speakers, topnotch life jackets, complete top-of-the-line Coast Guard approved safety products, extra bright flares, and six super guard fenders. Call Erica, 333-0262.

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