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June 6, 2007

Games

Dear Players:

On Monday, June 4, Mayor Fenty had a press conference at the headquarters of DC Public Schools to announce the selection of two consulting firms, Alvarez and Marsal and McKinsey and Company, to conduct reviews of DCPS’s finances and operations at a cost of $3.34 million (http://www.dcwatch.com/mayor/070604.htm). Joining Fenty at the press conference were Board of Education President Robert Bobb, Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso, and DCPS Superintendent Clifford Janey. In his remarks, Fenty indicated that this was the beginning of a precedent-making partnership involving the mayor, the city council, DCPS, the Board of Education, and the Superintendent. However, the city council was not represented at the press conference, and in recent weeks there has been a growing schism between Fenty and Council Chairman Vincent Gray on the school governance issue. Also in his opening remarks, Fenty indicated that a nonprofit organization, the DC Education Compact (http://www.dcec.org), had pledged to raise money to pay the two consulting firms for their audit. Dorothy asked two questions. First, what was the process by which these two firms were selected? Was it through an open, competitive request for proposals, or were they given sole-source contracts? Second, what would be the process by which funds would be raised and the firms paid, and what specifically would be the role of DCEC?

By the time that all four participants spoke, it was clear that Fenty, Bobb, Reinoso, and Janey had all participated in the selection of Alvarez and McKinsey, that the selection had been a noncompetitive process, and that the contracts had not been and would not be submitted to the council for approval. Both Mayor Fenty and Deputy Mayor Reinoso responded that the legal contract for the work would be between DCEC and the two consulting firms. They both said also that DCEC would be both raising the funds and making the payments to the firms. Dorothy asked follow-up questions to clarify the relationship, and Fenty and Reinoso confirmed it again. Dorothy asked why, if DCEC would be contracting with and paying the consulting firms, it wasn’t present at the press conference. She also asked, but never got an answer, whether this relationship with DCEC wasn’t just a way to evade District regulations against sole-source contracting and council approval of contracts.

Because she wasn’t comfortable with the answers she got at the press conference, Dorothy called the DC Education Compact that afternoon. Late that afternoon, she spoke with Donna Power Stowe, the Executive Director of DCEC. Stowe said that in fact DCEC would have no contract and no formal relationship with the two consulting firms; that any contract would be between the DC government and the firms; and that the only role DCEC had would be to help raise money, both locally and nationally, to pay the firms. Given this direct contradiction between what was announced publicly at the press conference and the response of DCEC, we have attempted to get further clarification from Deputy Mayor Reinoso and Stowe, and to get copies of any contracts with the consulting firms from Deputy Mayor Reinoso, but our telephone calls and E-mails have not been returned. The mayor’s press release said that the two consulting firms began work that same day, June 4. DC contracting law says that no firm can begin work, work for, or be paid by the DC government without a written contract.

This is just the start of, just a small $3.34 million sample of, how the Fenty administration will be handling the billions of dollars that the DC government will be dispersing on the schools in the next few years. The games have already begun, and this is how they will be played.

Gary Imhoff and Dorothy Brizill
gary@dcwatch.com and dorothy@dcwatch.com

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Hypocrisy Personified
Ralph J. Chittams, Sr., Ward 7, chittams@sewkis.com

Before I get started let me say this. The event occurring at the end of Unifest was a tragedy, not just for the individuals hit, but also for the young woman operating the vehicle. Now, the following text may be found in Associated Press reports related to the Unifest incident. “Bell had until recently worked in the office of Marion Barry, former mayor and a District of Columbia Council member, as a receptionist employed by a temp agency. Barry’s office issued a letter terminating its contract with NAI Personnel. ‘The behavior of your employee, although outside of work, indicates that you may not have properly investigated her background prior to placing her in our office,’ wrote Keith A. Perry, Barry’s chief of staff.”

Now if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black I don’t know what is. “Investigated her background,” said Perry. If people considered backgrounds, Marion Barry wouldn’t be elected dogcatcher in this city. After Barry’s stint in prison he spoke of redemption and a second chance. I guess that only applies to him. Barry expects forgiveness and a second, third, fourth, etc., chance, but cannot extend it. So much for doing unto others as you would have others do unto you. Utilizing the Perry/Barry standard of judgment, Barry should be in jail right now for tax evasion. But no, Barry deserves another chance. The Perry/Barry standard, when applied to others, is to throw the baby out with the bath water. Because one employee of the agency is charged with a crime and Barry is ducking for political cover, everyone working with that agency is no longer eligible to work in Barry’s office. What? What makes this situation even more egregious is that most of the temps working for NAI are black. Because one person acted badly, an entire group of people is going to be penalized? I thought we had gotten past those days when one black person’s actions had an adverse impact on the entire black community.

Well, Messrs. Barry and Perry, what about the other employees of the agency? Can you give them a first chance? They haven’t even done anything wrong. Marion Barry is the last person I expected to do something like this. After all the love and chances extended to him by the people of this city, he not only kicks someone when they are down, but kicks everyone affiliated with that person. Wow, if I didn’t know better I’d think Marion Barry’s full name was Marion “Bull Connor” Barry.

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Reversals of Fortune
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

In the past twenty-four hours, there have been several developments in the effort to hold a referendum on key provisions of Mayor Fenty’s education reform initiative. On May 22, the DC Board of Elections and Ethics held a public hearing at which it formally approved the “Referendum on Certain Provisions of the Public Education Reform Act of 2007” (http://www.dcwatch.com/election/ref007.htm) as a proper subject for an initiative. At that meeting, with attorneys representing the Board of Elections, the Office of the Attorney General, and the DC city council present, the Board also discussed and approved the short title and summary statement of the referendum that would appear on voters ballots. Three days later, on Friday, May 25, on the DC Politics Hour on WAMU-FM, Mayor Fenty talked about his displeasure with the Board’s action and threatened BOEE Chairman Charles Lowery with replacement (themail, May 27). On May 26, the BOEE paid for a full-page ad in the Washington Times to publish the entire text of the referendum, thus beginning the ten-day challenge period during which any citizen could file an objection to the referendum in DC Superior Court. On Thursday, May 31, the District’s Attorney General, Linda Singer, on behalf of the mayor, sent a letter to the BOEE requesting the Board to reconsider its referendum decision (http://www.dcpswatch.com/mayor/070531.htm).

On Friday, June 1, Singer filed a complaint against the BOEE’s decision in Superior Court (http://www.dcpswatch.com/mayor/070601.htm). All parties agreed to an expedited briefing and hearing schedule.

Yesterday, Tuesday, June 5, the Board of Elections filed its response brief, and in that response it reversed its previous decision and argued that the referendum was not a proper subject for a referendum. DC law allows the BOEE to reconsider any decision it makes, but its decision must be made at an open public meeting of which public notice has been given. No such hearing was held. Indeed, the BOEE never informed the referendum’s proponents or the public of the reversal of its decision until it filed its brief late yesterday afternoon. At today’s public hearing of the BOEE, Chairman Lowery said that, “You and the press are wrong. The Board has not reversed its decision. It simply changed its opinion.” Lowery admitted that in the Board’s court filing the Board’s position is that the referendum is not a proper subject. When I pressed Lowery on whether the Board had met legal requirements for holding a public meeting to reconsider its decision, his response was that the Board did not and had not met, so the Board hasn’t reversed its decision, even though its brief reverses its position and even though Mayor Fenty’s press release on June 5 brags that the BOEE reversed its ruling.

Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz, at two court hearings today, heard oral arguments from all parties with regards to whether or not she can order the Board to release referendum petitions to the proponents while any outstanding legal issues are being decided. During the court proceedings, the judge focused on the Board’s reversal and asked penetrating questions about the legality of their procedures, about whether the referendum were a proper subject when the Board made its ruling on May 22, and about whether the Board viewed its first decision as a mistake or whether any subsequent events actually required the Board to reverse its decision. Judge Leibovitz also focused on whether the Board violated the District’s open meeting law.

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Board of Elections Reverses Itself
Cherita Whiting, cherita_whiting@yahoo.com

Well, I guess [DC Board of Elections and Ethics Chairman Charles] Lowery decided he wanted to keep his job more so than do the right thing for the taxpayers. Or somebody else was paid off. I don’t know which one is fact, but I do know that DC is for sale. We are all going down along with it!

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Standardized Test Sites
Leila Afzal, Leila.Afzal@noaa.gov

We were warned not to sign up our son to take a standardized test at a DC public school. We had been told that the facilities are woefully inadequate and the proctors are not up to the task. Well, we signed up our son too late to get the location of our choice. He ended up at Wilson High School. According to the online instructions, he was to arrive, at the latest, by 7:45 a.m. for an 8:00 a.m. start time. He was there by 7:30. The doors to the high school were not even unlocked until 8:15 a.m. Then the students were divided by alphabet and sent off to different locations. The building was extremely hot and stuffy. He got to his assigned room, but the proctor did not even begin the exam until 9:20 a.m., twenty minutes after the test was supposed to have been completed. The proctor read something to the students, but my son was unable to understand a single thing he said. So, under the pressure of the test, he had to figure out how to fill out the informational part of the test form properly, find his specific test in the test book, and then begin. How difficult is it to arrive at a test site on time and get the test under way in an appropriate manner? Other jurisdictions seem to manage. Are the school sites leased out to some sort of test administrating company, or are they run by DCPS? I so wanted the warnings to be untrue. But unfortunately they were accurate. These poor kids are under enough pressure to perform at their best. Can’t we adults do our part to minimize that pressure where we can?

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New Baseball Stadium and Metro Senior Fare Cards
Ed T Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

The new baseball stadium for the Nationals is really moving along. A lot of activity is going on down near the Navy Yard. I cannot tell whether they are on schedule or not, but about forty percent of the upper deck is in place, along with the light towers for those sections. It looks like the builders have cornered the free world’s supply of aluminum. Good thing the stadium is not near the coast.

For those purchasing Senior Fare Cards at Metro Center, be advised that they are asking for more than your driver’s license for ID. I was asked for my Medicare card (wherever that is) or a Metro ID card. The Metro ID card can be applied for when you buy your fare cards, and it is the same card that will get seniors on the Metrobus at reduced fares. It takes about four weeks to come in the mail and expires in five years (or less if you do). [For more information, see http://www.wmata.com/riding/senior_disabled_id.cfm]

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Behind the Scenes of Last Year’s Prison Break
Bryce A. Suderow, streetstories@juno.com

I thought people might enjoy the behind-the-scenes story of last year’s prison break that appeared in Monday’s Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/a-761975~The_story_behind_the_D_C__jailbreak.html.

Is our prison system’s incompetence somehow unique? I don’t think so. I think that if similar stories that have appeared over the years teach us one thing, it’s that every DC agency suffers from the same kind of lame staffing.

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Teach Our Children by Practicing Democracy
Miriam Moore, miriam@DCIndependents.org

Mayor Fenty believes the District of Columbia parents and average citizens who are fighting for a voter referendum on his proposed school governance plan are hurting children. That’s the new Big Lie for 2007. They would rather have us put democracy on our children’s "just say no" list, and allow a speedy coronation of mayor Fenty as king of DC schools. Many District citizens and I certainly agree that plenty is wrong with our public school system. However, can we also agree that the success of our children has less to do with a top-down governance structure, and more to do with real community control of our schools? A genuine partnership between superintendent Clifford Janey, the DC school board, and local school communities produced our master education plan. This plan will be in effect regardless of who runs DCPS.

Dedicated teachers will still educate our children with available resources. They will do it in the same developer-targeted crumbling buildings caused by long-term multilevel DC government incompetence and politics. We will still send our kids to school and be involved in their education while working full or part time jobs, fighting poverty, avoiding violence, surviving DC’s coming fiscal imbalances, and challenging self-serving elected officials on decreasing citizen rights.

My child will still get educated, whether through DCPS, charter schools, low-cost tutors, or a more family-friendly area outside of DC. While parents may not do it perfectly, we will do our best. The needs of our children will always trump the phony rhetoric and plagiarized plans of District bureaucrats. Real leaders create partnerships, not adversaries, among the citizens that elect and pay them. A partnership with the citizens in the education trenches should begin with a civics lesson to our children on real democracy and due process. Supporting the voter referendum on school governance may earn mayor Fenty a B+ among citizens and children. Mr. Fenty, you cannot afford to fail this important lesson in “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

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Little Style and No Substance
Kenneth Lyons, President, AFGE Local 3721, president@local3721.org

Having watched closely the progression of the Rosenbaum incident from within the DC Fire Department, I was resigned to be silent as the process proceeded. Even during the fifteen months that it required for a trial board (comprised of career firefighters and not one medical professional that could be regarded as objective) to render a decision resulting in anything from a slap on the wrist to termination, only to have the final outcome be determined by an assistant chief, I maintained my silence. So as to the disciplinary process itself I will not comment and allow those involved the benefit of due process. However, I cannot remain silent as the President of the IAFF Local 36 Firefighters union, Daniel Dugan, a career firefighter and not a medical professional, attempts to articulate his opinion as if it were fact, all the while intimating that it was the fault of the hospital, the Inspector General, the media, and even Mr. Rosenbaum for choosing to take a stroll on a crisp evening in January 6, 2006. But we all know what they say about opinions, so I will not give mine, just the facts.

Firefighter Dugan, President of the Firefighters union, makes the point that, “In truth, there was no bleeding or other observable signs of trauma.” This, according to Firefighter Dugan, was the reason that the trial board, comprised of firefighters, rendered a decision that would later be endorsed by the Assistant Fire Chief of Operations, himself a career firefighter. What Firefighter Dugan, President of the career firefighters union, fails to mention was that the call was dispatched as a “Man Down” and, according to emergency medical technician training, a patient found on the ground is to be regarded as a trauma patient until proven otherwise. If career firefighter and local 36 president Dugan would take the time to review the District of Columbia State Medical Protocols, particularly Section A of the General Patient Guidelines under Trauma Patient Assessment, he would know that the treatment of a patient found on the ground, especially with altered mental status, is very specific, whether the injury is obvious or not. However Lieutenant Dugan concludes, “Without any visible injuries to Mr. Rosenbaum, the firefighters reasonably concluded that his condition was attributable to alcohol consumption.”

Which brings me to my second medical fact. In twenty years as a paramedic I have attended to many patients that have appeared to be intoxicated, and even possessed the smell of alcohol on their breath. According to Firefighter Dugan’s version of patient assessment, one should logically conclude that such a patient would deserve nothing more than a ride to the hospital without further assessment or concern. However, what we do know from eyewitness accounts and the patient care report as detailed in the media, was that Mr. Rosenbaum was exhibiting increasing altered mental status accompanied with repeated episodes of vomiting. Let’s stop here for a second: remember that smell of alcohol found on the patient, on the ground, experiencing altered mental status (GCS-3). Those of us who regard ourselves as medical professionals have a saying, “Altered mental status in an elderly patient is head or heart until proven otherwise.”

The District of Columbia State Medical Protocols, under the heading of Adult Medical Emergencies: Altered Mental Status (Non-traumatic) again has specific guidelines for the treatment of such patients. Among other treatment and assessment requirements is a test to be performed on patients presenting in this manner: blood glucose check. This is a simple thirty-second test to determine the value of the blood sugar of the patient. Why you may ask? Because, even assuming, as Firefighter/President Dugan suggests, that there was no blood or obvious injury, you had an elderly patient with altered mental status. Alcohol would be the absolutely last thing to be considered as the cause of the patient’s condition, even if the smell were present (diabetic ketoacidosis, anyone?).

Dan Dugan espouses medical opinion as if he were a medical expert and not primarily a firefighter. However, if Dan Dugan feels so strongly on this issue, on June 18 there will be an EMS Task-force meeting where the Mayor, City Administrator, Attorney General, representatives from the Rosenbaum family and members of the community will be in attendance. It is here where Firefighter Dugan can articulate to these individuals why "this culture of indifference” is regarded as “…an offense, not only to these two men but to all firefighters,” but not an offense to the Rosenbaum family and to the community at large who are tired of these excuses.

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Sirens and Noise
Daniel Wolkoff, amglassart@yahoo.com

[From testimony to the city council Judiciary Committee, May 31] During the day, right now, sirens are bombarding my home all the time. Emergency Medical Services sirens make living near Providence Hospital horrible, unlivable. This situation cannot persist. District Regulations state, “. . . when the driver of the vehicle while in motion sounds an audible signal by siren or exhaust whistles as may be reasonably necessary.” However, the District government has required constant sirens on all transport, administratively protecting itself from liability in case of auto accidents. This may save a few dollars every year, but doesn’t the peace and quiet of our homes have some value? The siren itself is a powerful electronically produced shock wave agitating the air 40 decibels louder than the ear-damaging level. Other communities have ambulance sirens that are not disturbing like ours. What that siren selected, what testing was done?

It is reasonable to use a humane siren during critical transport, when there is an obstruction, actual traffic, or when pedestrians are really in the way. It is not reasonable to use excessively powerful sirens continually when an emergency vehicle is proceeding unobstructed. The Fire Department’s constant use of extremely loud 130 DB electronic sirens, when the patient is stable, when there is no traffic and no obstruction, is not reasonable. This is destroying the quality of life in DC and is actually medically destructive both to its residents and your personnel. Chief Martin told me “all personnel will suffer hearing loss by the time they leave the service.” Heart disease and stroke are caused by the increased adrenaline the siren causes; fire fighters have 100 times greater risk for heart attack.

In Maryland, protocols guide the EMT to distinguish between emergency transport needing sirens and quiet, routine transport, done with lights but no sirens. Maryland protocols include Priority 1 and 2 as follows: “If the patient’s condition has been stabilized on the scene, the EMT or Paramedic in Charge of patient care may determine that the patient may be transported in a routine mode.” This means lights and no sirens. That is respectful of the community, but the same transport DC is an hysterical disturbance. Bethesda is quiet; our neighborhoods are a noisy bedlam. District protocols say nothing about being selective and responding appropriately. Also, Maryland will advise "a non-urgent patient that they do not require emergency transport and do not warrant the use of an emergency medical vehicle." In the District, ten percent of all emergency transports actually come from the just twelve residences. Chief Medical Officer Michael Williams says, “There are many medical conditions that actually require calm quiet transport for the patients’ proper care. Some are heart attack, epilepsy, pregnant women with eclampsia, psychiatric disorders, and many more that we must transport properly without sirens.”

District Municipal Regulation 730.1 states, “Each motor vehicle operated upon a highway [city streets are not open highways] shall be equipped with a horn in good working order and capable of emitting sound audible under normal conditions from a distance of not less than two hundred feet (200 ft.).” Why would your department send your ambulances dozens and dozens of runs every day through an intersection like 12th and Michigan dodging traffic, red lights, and violating the specific 25 MPH limit , breaking the law all the time, sirens going like mad? Sirens pervade our homes for a half mile around, making a quiet residential neighborhood into a noisy bedlam. And the direction of the siren cannot be determined, as it radiates in all directions for over a half mile. Because people cannot tell where the sirens come from, they ignore them.

The new technology of directional sirens would clearly be more effective. Another innovation that would improve and add safety is a system of “traffic preemption devices.” These systems essentially escort ambulances by turning traffic lights green so they can move safely through the street and intersections. Why not move ambulances through a controlled series of green lights, rather than gamble by running red lights and stop signs, and illegally speeding endangering all of us?

Why can’t Emergency Medical Services stop the hysteria when the traffic goes down in the evening, and goes to nothing at night? Flat out, continuous, 130 DB. sirens when the traffic is minimal or there is no traffic are simply an insult to the community.

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The Googletown Post
Cecilio Morales, cecelio.morales@gmail.com

Phil Shapiro’s imaginary moment of turning off the presses at the Washington Post after Google purchases the paper (themail, June 3) has elements of something that I, as an editor and publisher of a specialized weekly, experienced last year. I pulled the plug on printing. It was a momentous decision even for a relatively small circulation publication, but I doubt my printer or the postal service lost much sleep over it. However, for an enterprise the size of the Post, it would not be not trivial at all in its ramifications and it would be nowhere as simple as he proposes. What are printers to do? What about the truckers who bring in the paper and the distributors who take it to your door and the sidewalk boxes? That’s a lot of local unemployment Shapiro is proposing.

More importantly, what is the citizenry to do with diminished sources of news? Nearly every institution has developed a myriad of ways to stonewall reporters and, partly as a result, almost all major news publishing operations have come to offer thinner, more poorly verified factoids. I exclude broadcasting because, to begin with, the medium has never had much substance. This is something that we in Washington journalism notice. People of a certain age, mostly Boomers and Xers, still read printed newspapers. Younger people read the Web, true, with its flashes and bits and pieces. Electronic news can be fun, but very little of it is subjected to an editorial process, fact-checking, and so forth, including the fun and feisty themail.

Shapiro raises an important issue. What will the future source of news be and how good will it be? Merely improving the looks of a site and getting a printer that I can buy cheaper today than his future machine will cost is not quite the Jules Verne picture one would hope for. There must be a better future. Google is an aggregator of information. The Post is a gatherer, sifter, evaluator, and publisher. These are two vastly different functions. Journalism is not merely a matter of stenography and typing.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

DC Public Library Events
Randi Blank, randi.blank@dc.gov

Saturday, June 9, 10:00 a.m., Palisades Neighborhood Library, 4901 V Street, NW. Chesapeake Lace Group. For more information, call 282-3139.

Saturday, June 9, 2:00 p.m., Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Pamela Ehrenberg will discuss writing for young adults and her inspiration for writing Ethan, Suspended. A book sale and signing, courtesy of the Trover Shop, will follow. For more information, call 282-3073.

Monday, June 11, 6:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Great Hall. Fifteenth annual tribute to Eddie Kendricks. Jimi Dougans, president of the Eddie Kendricks Memorial Foundation, Inc., and a founding member of Kendricks’ recording and touring band, The Young Senators, hosts this tribute to Eddie Kendricks, former lead singer of The Temptations.

Tuesdays, June 12, 19, 26, 7:00 p.m., Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Book Bingo. Read, play bingo and win prizes! For more information, call 282-3073.

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Tenant Rights Workshops, June 16
Delores Anderson, delores.anderson@dc.gov

The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Office of the Tenant Advocate will present "Know Your Tenant Rights" in Ward 3 on Saturday, June 16, from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. The educational workshops will be held at Wilson Senior High School, located at 3950 Chesapeake Street, NW. There will be four simultaneous workshops on rent control, tenants right of first refusal and condo conversion, how to file a tenant petition, and the ins and outs of residential housing inspections.

In addition to the workshops, a free legal clinic will provide tenants with an opportunity to meet one-on-one with an attorney to discuss their housing problems. The clinic will be staffed by volunteer attorneys from area nonprofit legal services providers. Onsite registration for the clinic is required. Individuals with special and/or translation needs should contact the Office of the Tenant Advocate at 442-8359 to make arrangements. The nearest Metro Rail Station is Tenleytown (Red line). Metro buses 32, 34 and 36 service the area. For additional information, please contact Delores Anderson at 442-359 or Delores.Anderson@dc.gov.

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CLASSIFIEDS — HELP WANTED

Installing Hard Drives
Bryce A. Suderow, streetstories@juno.com

I need assistance adding hard drives to my computer. Anyone interested can E-mail me at streetstories@juno.com.

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Legal Assistant, Silver Spring
Jon Katz, jon at markskatz dot com

Highly-rated criminal and Constitutional defense lawyer seeks topnotch experienced legal assistant. Excellent pay, benefits package, and free parking/Metro. Full details are at http://www.markskatz.com/JOBS.htm#Assist.

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