THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 , 2021. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 B3
VIRGINIAPerson atop Air Force
Memorial causes a stirA person on top of one of the
approximately 200-foot-tall
spires of the Air Force Memorial
in Arlington on Wednesday
morning caused a stir on social
media.
Many worried that the person
was in trouble, but officials said
not to worry: The person was
authorized to be up there.
First Lt. Gabriel Cushing, a
spokesman for the Air Force
District of Washington — which
oversees the memorial — said the
person works for a contractor
and was up on the spires doing
routine maintenance and
inspections of the structure, and
checking for any repairs that
might be needed. He said the
work is done every five years.
Peter Doran, a former GOP
candidate for governor, posted a
video on Twitter showing the
person on top of one of the spires
and wrote: “They are keeping the
Air Force Memorial beautiful.
What a way to earn a paycheck.”
Cushing said the contractors
use ropes that are attached in a
series of loops along the spires,
and “they physically pull
themselves up.”
There is a “series of safety
latches along the way to ensure
they do not fall,” he said.
The Air Force Memorial was
dedicated in 2006. The three
stainless steel spires at the
memorial — which gets about
350,000 visitors a year and
honors airmen who lost their
lives in wars and battles — are
meant to look as if they’re soaring
into the sky. It sits on a ridge next
to Arlington National Cemetery
and overlooks the Pentagon.
— Dana HedgpethMotorcyclist killed in
crash with school busA motorcyclist was killed
Wednesday in a collision with a
school bus near an elementary
school in south Arlington, county
police said.
Officers responded to the
report of a crash in the 3500
block of 23rd Street South n ear
Dr. Charles Drew Elementary
School, about 2:50 p .m., when
police found the man fatally
injured, police said on the
department’s Twitter account.
The motorcyclist w as
pronounced dead at the scene,
officials said.
Fourteen students were on t he
bus, which was not coming to or
from the elementary school, at
the time of the crash, police said.
No one else was injured.
The name of the motorcyclist
was not immediately released by
police, pending notification of
the next of kin, according to
Ashley Savage, a police
spokeswoman.
— Clarence WilliamsMARYLANDMan charged after
officer hurt in shootingThe man accused of shooting
at two police officers in Prince
George’s County — and
wounding one of them — has
been arrested and charged with
assault and gun offenses,
authorities said.
Josue Albarran-Dominguez,
20, of Riverdale was taken in to
police custody hours after the
shooting and is being held
without bond at the county jail.
Officers from the Riverdale
Park police, the Greenbelt police
and the Bladensburg police w ere
involved in the shooting incident
and arrest of Albarran-
Dominguez, authorities said. The
Prince George’s County police are
investigating.
In a news release, county
police said Albarran-Dominguez
and another person were spotted
just before 10 p.m. Monday
driving a car that authorities
believe was linked to a shooting
on Halloween. A Riverdale Park
officer tried to pull over the
vehicle, officials said, but it fled.
The officer chased the vehicle
to the 4900 block of East-West
Highway, where Albarran-
Dominguez and the other person
ran from the car, authorities said.
Officials said Albarran-
Dominguez fired a gun at the
Riverdale Park officer, who
returned fire. That officer was
shot and was treated at a hospital
and released.
A Greenbelt police officer was
also shot at but not struck. His
cruiser was hit, and the officer
did not fire his gun, police said.
Hours later, at 2 a.m. Tuesday,
a Bladensburg p olice officer saw
Albarran-Dominguez near
57th Avenue and Emerson Street
in Bladensburg, authorities said.
That officer chased Albarran-
Dominguez on foot and arrested
him. Albarran-Dominguez had a
gun, police said.
It was not immediately clear
whether Albarran-Dominguez
had retained an attorney.
Prince George’s police said
they are trying to identify the
second person from the original
attempted traffic stop.
— Katie MettlerMan killed by truck at
retirement communityA 75-year-old resident of a
retirement community in
Montgomery County was struck
by a truck and killed Tuesday
while crossing a street on the
community’s grounds, county
police said.
The man was struck about
3 p.m. while crossing Asbury
Road inside Asbury Methodist
Village in Gaithersburg, police
said.
A water delivery truck was
turning left from Fellowship
Circle toward Odendhal Avenue
when it struck the man, police
said. The man’s name was
withheld until relatives could be
notified, police said.
Asbury Methodist Village is
described on its website as a
continuing-care retirement
community on a 1 24-acre
campus.
— Martin WeilLOCAL DIGESTResults from Nov. 10DISTRICT
Day/DC-3: 9-4-3
DC-4: 6-6-1-9
DC-5: 4-2-7-8-6
Night/DC-3 (Tue.): 8-0-5
DC-3 (Wed.): 3-4-1
DC-4 (Tue.): 5-0-5-6
DC-4 (Wed.): 1-7-5-0
DC-5 (Tue.): 9-8-8-2-9
DC-5 (Wed.): 4-0-8-2-9MARYLAND
Mid-Day Pick 3: 5-3-7
Mid-Day Pick 4: 0-4-4-2
Night/Pick 3 (Tue.): 1-8-9
Pick 3 (Wed.): 1-6-4
Pick 4 (Tue.): 5-0-7-2
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Match 5 (Tue.): 7-12-15-16-24 *11
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5 Card Cash: 8H-5S-9C-3C-8DVIRGINIA
Day/Pick-3: 9-3-8 ^4
Pick-4: 6-9-1-0 ^9
Night/Pick-3 (Tue.): 3-6-6 ^0
Pick-3 (Wed.): 1-7-7 ^2
Pick-4 (Tue.): 6-3-4-2 ^1
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Cash-5 (Tue.): 7-22-31-32-40
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Bank a Million: 5-18-19-27-33-40 *11MULTI-STATE GAMES
Mega Millions: 9-14-16-26-49 **14
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For late drawings and other results, check
washingtonpost.com/local/lotteryLOTTERIESTransportation servicesl Metrorail runs 5 a.m. to mid-
night with off-peak fares in effect.
Trains operate at reduced fre-
quencies because of the removal
of 7000-series rail cars. On the
Red Line, Shady Grove and Rock-
ville stations are closed; free local
shuttle bus service is provided.
After 9 p.m., trains run single
track on the Blue Line between
Van Dorn Street and Braddock
Road. Metrobus is on a Saturday
schedule. MetroAccess has regu-
lar service but subscription trips
are canceled. For information, go
to wmata.com.
l Ride On is on a holiday sched-
ule.
l DASH has regular service.
l CUE is on a modified week-
day schedule.
l Fairfax Connector is on a holi-
day weekday schedule.
l ART is running Routes 41, 42,
45, 51, 55, 77 and 87 only on a
Saturday schedule.
l PRTC OmniRide has regular
service but OmniRide Express is
not running.
l Loudoun Bus has reduced
service.
l MTA Commuter Bus is only
running Route 201 on a weekend/
holiday schedule.
l MARC is running the “R”
schedule on all three lines.
l VRE is not running.John
Kelly's
WashingtonHe is away. His column will resume
when he returns.“I would have been kicked out,”
he says. “That was clear to me
immediately.”
Banks tells me this on a recent
afternoon as we sit outside a
restaurant next to McPherson
Square. On the table between us,
he has placed proof of his service:
a sheet of paper that lists when
he joined the military, Oct. 7,
1985, and what he accomplished
while actively serving for four
years before receiving an
honorable discharge. It describes
him as working as a dental
assistant specialist and earning
an outstanding unit award and
Good Conduct Medal.
“I loved the military,” says
Banks, who was born in D.C. and
grew up in Hawaii. He talks
excitedly about the dental work
he did while in the Air Force and
the jobs he held after his service
ended. He describes working in
retail, climbing his way up to
managerial positions for several
companies, and traveling to work
in stores in California, Nevada,
New York and eventually the D.C.
region.
“During one interview I was
asked, ‘Where do you want to
go?’ ” he recalls. “And I gave the
answer everyone should: Where
do you need me to go?”
To see Banks at that table, a
person would probably assume
he works in one of the nearby
office buildings. He wears a
collared shirt and drinks a chai
tea latte with soy milk and two
espresso shots. But that meeting
spot was not picked by accident.
“I used to sit on that bench and
freeze for hours,” he tells me,
pointing out a bench in the park
situated near a small tree and a
bus stop. It’s where he started
sleeping toward the end of last
year after the death of a former
partner.
That loss followed a series of
traumatic experiences, including
the sudden death of his mother
shortly after he moved back to
the D.C. region, that caused him
to lose motivation, jobs and
eventually his apartment. His
mother had been crossing the
street to go play bridge with
friends when she was hit by a car.
She survived for five days before
she died.
“I died that day myself,” Banks
says. “That was my person. I had
no ambition after that.”
Banks now sleeps on a bench
in a different part of the city
when he can’t find a borrowed
bed for the night. He tells me this
not because he wants help. He’s
already receiving that from
several outreach workers. He and
two other LGBTQ veterans who
have known housing struggles
spoke with me about their
experiences in hope of helping
others like them, or at least, theVARGAS FROM B1public’s understanding of the
legacy left by the military forcing
service members to hide those
parts of their identity.
In September, timed to the
10th anniversary of “Don’t Ask
Don’t Tell,” the Department of
Veterans Affairs issued new
guidance clarifying that military
members who were given other
than an honorable discharge
because of their “sexual
orientation, gender identity or
HIV status” were eligible for full
benefits.
T hat means people like the
man who received that birthday
card, and received a dishonorable
discharge, can access critical
services.
That means Jim Davis, who
works as a veterans peer support
specialist for Pathways to
Housing DC, has more ways to
get people off the street.
Before, if he encountered an
LGBTQ veteran living in a shelter
or on a bench and they didn’t
have an honorable discharge, he
couldn’t get them a housing
voucher through VeteransAffairs, he says. He had to find
another way. Now, he has that
option.
“We’ve come a long way in
ending homelessness for
veterans,” he says. “But there is
still a lot to be done.”
Davis, who is 60, decided to
enlist in the Air Force the day
President Ronald Reagan was
shot. He had known since the age
of 8 that he was gay, he says, but
during his time in the military, he
used church to hide that part of
himself. Before moving to the
D.C. area and getting a job with
Pathways, he spent 15 years living
in the woods in Tennessee along
the Appalachian Trail.
“When I was in the middle of
it, you wouldn’t have convinced
me I was homeless,” he says. Now,
he’s the one doing the
convincing, trying to pull other
veterans toward housing
stability. “The most important
thing I have is my story, that
shared experience. If I can do it,
you can do it.”
“If we can do it, you can do it,”
he says, looking at AndreaAnderson. He describes the Army
veteran as a success story.
At that moment, we are sitting
outside her apartment in
Southeast Washington. But when
Davis met Anderson in 2015, she
was staying at the Chesapeake
Veterans House, a transitional
housing program that serves
people who are between
homelessness and permanent
housing.
“When I first came to the
Washington area, I was broken to
the point that I didn’t know
where I was going,” Anderson
says.
Twice in those early years, she
attempted to end her life, she
says. The second time she
flatlined, and after she regained
consciousness, she recalls a
medical staff member telling her,
“God ain’t ready for you, and the
devil don’t want you.”
Anderson doesn’t like the word
“transgender,” so she describes
herself as going “through a
transition.”
When she was a teenager, her
mom took her to a psychiatrist,
she says. She recalls her
“feminine self” standing there
and hearing him say, “I think you
brought him in just in time.” The
psychiatrist, she says, then tried
to explain how men walked —
face up, hips straight.
Later, when Anderson joined
the Army, she had to attest she
was a straight man, knowing it
was a lie. She also knew people in
her life doubted she would make
it in the military.
“I had to put on a show,” she
says. “I had to play the game. I
couldn’t let anyone know what I
was really feeling.”
She credits the staff at
Pathways with helping her find
stability in the D.C. region. While
working with them, she legally
changed her name, got needed
prosthetics through VA and saw
her credit score rise, enabling her
to find that apartment on her
own.
“There are resources out
there,” Davis says. “We don’t
believe any veterans should
spend one more night on the
streets.”
After working with people
from VA, Pathways and
Friendship Place, Banks received
his VA medical care ID card last
week. He also found out that he
was approved for a VA housing
voucher.
He is now looking for an
apartment and researching
whether he can get a loan to start
a business that will allow him to
hire other people in need of
housing.
“Don’t assume when you see
someone who is homeless they
are lazy,” he says as we walk to
that familiar bench in McPherson
Square. “Everyone has a story.”
[email protected]THERESA VARGASGroups provide LGBTQ veterans h elp with housing
PHOTOS BY THERESA VARGAS/THE WASHINGTON POST
Andrea Anderson describes herself as “in transition” rather than
transgender and says she hid her identity while in the Army. Tomás
Banks said that if he had told the Air Force that he was gay while
serving in the 1980s, he “would have been kicked out.”Closed everywhere
BanksFederal government officesPost offices: No mail delivery except for Express MailCourts: Closed except for adult arraignments, juvenile referrals in the DistrictVaried restrictions
District^ Maryland^ VirginiaTraffic,
parkingRush-hour restrictions lifted.
No city parking enforcement
except along the D.C.
Streetcar line.No parking enforcement in
Montgomery and Prince
George’s except at National
Harbor and P rince George’s
Department of Corrections.HOV restrictions lifted on I-66
and I-395. Meters not
enforced in the city of
Alexandria.Trash,
recyclingNo collections; pickups slide
one day to the end of the
week. Fort Totten Transfer
Station closed.Regular collections in Anne
Arundel and Howard
counties. No collections in
Montgomery; pickups slide
one day to the end of the
week. No collections in
Prince George’s; pickups
resume on the next regularly
scheduled day. Landfills
closed in Anne Arundel and
Frederick; open elsewhere.
Montgomery Transfer Station
open.Regular municipal
collections. Landfills open.Liquor
storesOpen at owner’s discretion. Open at owner’s discretion. Open.Schools Closed. Closed Thursday in St.
Mary’s. On Thursday and
Friday, schools are closed in
Charles. Classes are
dismissed two hours early
Thursday and Friday i n Anne
Arundel. Open elsewhere.Closed in Arlington and
Prince William. Open in
Fauquier and Loudoun. Early
dismissals in Fairfax County
and Alexandria.Libraries One library open in each
ward. For information, go to
dclibrary.org.Open in Anne Arundel; closed
elsewhere.Closed.Local
government
officesClosed. Closed. Closed except in Prince
William.Veterans Day closings
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