The Washington Post - 05.03.2020

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METRO

THURSDAy, MARCH 5 , 2020. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/REGIONAL eZ sU B

JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON

anderson House is in

search of artifacts from the

lavish entertaining held

there over the years. B3

THE DISTRICT

a national group drops its

effort for a voter initiative

to decriminalize sex work

after activists object. B3

OBITUARIES

rafael Cancel Miranda was

the last of the Puerto rican

nationalists who fired on

43 ° 51 ° 54 ° 48 ° the U.s. Capitol in 1954. B6

8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m.

High today at

approx. 3 p.m.

56

°

Precip: 0%

Wind: E

6-12 mph

Craigslist

reveals real

coronavirus

craziness

By now, most of

us have seen

them — those

store shelves

cleared of items

that didn’t seem

hoard-worthy

until suddenly

they did.

Maybe you’ve stood in front of

one, and found yourself

wondering whether your

neighbors have lost their minds.

or maybe you’ve tossed the

last few items from one into

your already-filled cart, and

found yourself wondering

whether you have lost your

mind.

A region’s paranoia is a hard

thing to measure in the face of

uncertain threats. And in recent

days, images of those eerily

empty shelves across the

country have become iconic.

They have come to symbolize

our collective hysteria in

response to the coronavirus

outbreak that has killed

thousands of people across the

world and at least 11 people in

the United states so far.

Those images s how that even

if we aren’t wearing face masks

by the masses in public yet, we

are buying them as fast as stores

can get them in stock (despite

officials pleading for people to

stop doing that). They also show

that we’re buying a lot more

than masks. We are buying toilet

paper and canned goods and,

some of us, more hand sanitizer

than we have hands.

But looking at the picked-over

aisles of Ta rget, CVs and other

big-name stores captures only

one aspect of our retail

behavior.

They offer only one

see Vargas on B4

theresa

Vargas

PHotos by robb HIll for tHe WasHIngton Post

RETROPOLIS

In W.Va., a lost graveyard

and an unsolved mystery

BY PETER JAMISON

HARPERS FERRY, W.VA. — It was last summer

that Bonnie Zampino first noticed something

unusual about the wooded plot of land in the

hills above this historical town.

Zampino, a case manager for recovering

drug users who lives in the neighboring com-

munity of Bolivar, was used to encountering

curiosities from the past on her hikes through

Harpers Ferry, a town where history has left i ts

imprint several times over. The village over-

looking the shenandoah and Potomac rivers is

most famous for the failed anti-slavery r aid led

by abolitionist John Brown in 1859. It was also

the site of a Civil War battle and hosted large

contingents of Union and Confederate troops.

Zampino, 50, had made a hobby of her

interest in abandoned rural properties, taking

photographs and researching o ld land records.

But the lonely section of woods to the west of

Harpers Ferry’s historical downtown and na-

tional park were unlike anything she’d seen

see rETrOPOLIs on B8

Could a neglected plot of land

in the woods near Harpers Ferry

be a Civil War-era cemetery?

TOP: a footstone lies in a secluded section of the woods west of

downtown Harpers Ferry, w.Va. aBOVE: Bonnie Zampino, who

has done extensive research on the location, says she believes the

site may hold the remains of Union soldiers.

BY MARISSA J. LANG

A wet and mild winter will

mean early blooms this year, ac-

cording to the national Park ser-

vice, with the District’s famous

cherry tree blossoms expected to

peak March 27-30.

Despite earlier concerns that

the trees might bloom before the

festival celebrating them begins

March 20, the big question on the

minds of city officials and festival

organizers has been less about the

flowers and more about the hun-

dreds of thousands of people who

come to see them.

The spreading coronavirus has

in recent weeks resulted in inter-

national travel restrictions, eco-

nomic fallout and at least

11 deaths in the United states.

The national Cherry Blossom

Festival, where revelers can watch

fireworks, dozens of performanc-

es, a kite festival and a parade,

typically draws more than 1 mil-

lion people to the Washington

region. Concerns over the virus

see CHErrY BLOssOMs on B5

Bet on March 27-30 for biggest burst of blossoms

bIll o’leary/tHe WasHIngton Post

The branches of cherry trees at the Tidal Basin are covered in buds. D.C. officials and National Cherry

Blossom Festival organizers are eager for peak bloom days and the crowds they bring.

BY JUSTIN JOUVENAL

A springfield man charged

with shooting and killing a neigh-

bor Tuesday is a nAsA executive

and a former police officer who

fatally shot two people in sepa-

rate line-of-duty incidents, ac-

cording to family members and

government officials.

Michael J. Hetle, 52, worked in

nAsA’s h eadquarters on risk miti-

gation for the space agency’s pro-

grams and activities as part of the

enterprise Protection Program,

nAsA said Wednesday. He joined

the agency in 2010 and served in

various positions.

Hetle was also a former officer

with the Bellevue, Wash., police

for nearly a decade before his

resignation in 2003, the depart-

ment said. Hetle was involved in a

controversial 2001 shooting of an

unarmed Latino man during a

domestic violence call and the

2000 shooting of a bank robbery

suspect who was armed, the de-

partment said.

Both men died. Hetle was

cleared of any criminal wrongdo-

ing in each case.

The shooting of the Latino man

drew protests and accusations of

racial bias against Hetle and the

department. The man’s f amily lat-

er settled a civil suit against Belle-

see sHOOTINg on B4

NASA

executive

charged in

Va. slaying

ACCused oF FAtALLy

shootING NeIGhBor

Suspect is e x-officer who

killed two in line of duty

BY PETER HERMANN

Police investigating sunday af-

ternoon’s killing of a 13-year-old

boy in the District’s shaw neigh-

borhood are trying t o determine if

there is a link to another shooting

a week earlier and a few blocks

away that left three young men

injured, a D.C. police commander

told residents at a community

meeting.

Both shootings occurred

around 2 p.m., the first Feb. 24 at

ninth street and Rhode Island

Avenue n W, t he second on sunday

at sixth and s streets, also in

northwest. That s hooting claimed

the life of Malachi Lukes and

wounded h is teenage friend.

“We think time, place and cir-

cumstance,” said Cmdr. stuart

emerman, who runs the 3rd Dis-

trict station that includes shaw.

“There is too much coincidence

for us not to look at it.” He added

that detectives think the victims

in both shootings “may be

friends.”

But emerman told a meeting of

frustrated residents Tuesday eve-

ning that there have been no ar-

rests in either incident and the

motives remain elusive. He said

detectives are considering wheth-

er the shootings could have been

sparked by a dispute between

neighborhoods or an internal

see sHaw on B4

Police seek

links in

two Shaw

shootings

‘Too much coincidence’

in 13-year-old’s death

and week-earlier gunfire

BY FENIT NIRAPPIL

since launching his bid to re-

claim the D.C. Council seat he

gave up under pressure in Janu-

ary, Democrat Jack evans has

been scolded by former constitu-

ents and abandoned by longtime

allies. A former council colleague

said no when evans asked for a

donation.

Paul Trantham, a veteran sig-

nature collector for D.C. candi-

dates, said that it took six days to

get 100 people to sign a nominat-

ing petition for evans — and that

he caught plenty of flak along the

way.

“ People cussed me out. People

walked around me,” said Tran-

tham, a neighborhood commis-

sioner in southeast Washington.

“I’ve been abused verbally, disre-

spected and told shame on me.”

But friends and associates say

evans is feeling more confident

after submitting hundreds of sig-

natures Wednesday to qualify for

the Democratic primary ballot in

June and is preparing for his first

public appearance — at a candi-

date forum Thursday — since

announcing his comeback bid.

“He got a good taste of what it’s

going to be like going door-to-

door. Because people say, ‘ oh, you

need to get out,’ ” said one associ-

ate, who spoke on the condition of

anonymity to discuss private con-

versations. “He doesn’t w ant to be

a lobbyist or practice law. This is

all he wants to do, so he’s going to

see EVaNs on B5

Evans

up against

hostility on

road back

Ex-D.C. Council member

has lost longtime allies

in bid to reclaim seat