The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-26)

THURSDAY, MAY 26 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE B5

captures the totality of the
damage. Gun violence takes
people from us, but it also takes
from people who are connected
to the dead, the injured and the
scene. It takes from relatives,
friends, classmates, teachers,
people who live in the
neighborhood, first responders
and, yes, even hardened
journalists.
Since the shooting at
Columbine High School in 1999,
more than 311,000 students have
experienced gun violence at
school, according to a count by
The Washington Post. That’s a

VARGAS FROM B1 huge number, and it only takes
into account students and
school-based incidents. Consider
how that count grows when you
start looking at other shootings
involving children and the full
scope of people affected by them.
The phrase “ripple effect” is
commonly used to describe how
trauma spreads outward from
random shootings, but it’s not
quite the right analogy. When
ripples end, calm resumes. The
way trauma spreads from
shootings seems closer in nature
to how stains form when a black
marker presses against a white
napkin. The ink seeps, and even
though it gets less noticeable the

further it travels from the center, every part of the napkin it touches remains forever altered. That email I received about Blanca provided a powerful reminder of that. Three decades have passed since she was killed, and that news photographer still carries her shooting with him. He explained in his email that he was searching online for information about the incident when he found a column I wrote several years ago about Blanca. In it, I shared how it wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned the shooting affected more than our middle school. It fueled federal legislation and led to the

creation of special law enforcement units. “I’m not even sure why I’m writing you,” read the photographer’s email, which he gave me permission to share with you. “I think reading this helps me by putting some kind of ending to this story. The overnight crew never had anyone to talk to about the things we experienced except each other so of course we didn’t.” As more and more photos of those children lost in the Uvalde shooting emerge, you might feel tempted to turn away. Please look at them. Mourn them. And then honor them by doing

whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t happen again. And again. And again. On Wednesday, I spoke to one of my former middle school classmates, Henry Hernandez Jr., who became a lifelong educator in San Antonio. I recalled him as a kind, caring kid, but he told me Blanca’s death changed him. He said it turned his empathy into numbness. “It went away when we came to school on Monday morning and saw her empty desk,” he said. “That’s when the innocence of my childhood left.” Lawmakers held the power 30

years ago to do something substantial about the country’s gun problem, and they hold the power now. “Everything we’re experiencing right now,” he said, “these are traumatic events that could have been avoided.” In the hours after the Uvalde shooting, before the names of the lost started to emerge, he posted on his Facebook page that he had relatives among the victims. “Keep my family in your prayers folks,” he wrote. “Two passed away. One in critical condition. Two missing. My heart hurts. ... Everyone, tell people you love them.”

THERESA VARGAS

Shooting trauma will reach further, last longer than anyone will be able to see

BY TEO ARMUS

An environmental organiza-
tion that monitors the Potomac
River is suing Alexandria, charg-
ing that the Northern Virginia
city has been allowing coal tar
and other cancer-causing pollut-
ants to contaminate the water-
way for decades.
The Potomac Riverkeeper Net-
work’s lawsuit, which was filed in
federal court earlier this month,
concerns a storm pipe that is
meant to collect rainwater near
the former location of the now-
defunct Alexandria Town Gas
company and empties into the
river through a nearby outfall at

the edge of Oronoco Street in Old Town. Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks said that pipe has also collected toxic chemicals from contaminated soil and groundwater at the former gas plant for decades and deposited those pollutants into the river — even as the city has spent millions to address the issue. “The idea that they would continue hemorrhaging oil out of this pipe after six years of us asking, begging, pleading them to do the right thing — it’s frustrating that we’re at this place,” Naujoks added. “I thought this would have been resolved

years ago.” Andrea Blackford, a spokeswoman for the city, said in a statement that Alexandria was “surprised” by the suit. Local government officials have “worked closely” with the group and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to reme- diate the remnants of contamination at the gas plant site, she added. The manufactured-gas factory fueled homes and businesses in Alexandria starting in the late 1800s until its closure in the middle of the last century. Coal tar discharges at the outfall were first reported in 1975, and local

officials entered into a voluntary remediation program run by the state in 2000. Since then, the city “has implemented the approved remedial measures in accor- dance with the approved sched- ules,” Blackford added. Still, Naujoks said that the problem has not been properly addressed — an especially poor showing by a city that was one of the first in Virginia to adopt an “eco-city” charter, he added. According to the city’s website, Alexandria has installed floating booms meant to contain the pollutants near the outfall, re- lined the storm pipe, and installed a treatment system that is

meant to remove coal tar from groundwater before it discharges into the Potomac. It has also dredged contaminated sediment and capped off that area to prevent it from seeping into the rest of the river. The lawsuit, however, charges that those efforts have not done enough to stop the pollution — in violation of the federal Clean Water Act, and at risk to humans and animals that come into con- tact with the river. “You can dredge all you want. But if oil continues to discharge, it’s going to get recontaminated,” Naujoks said. “And I believe it has.”

The coal tar contamination is one of several environmental issues the city has been struggling with due to aging pipes in Old Town. Last year, Alexandria em- barked on a massive infrastruc- ture project to replace the histor- ic neighborhood’s combined sewer system, which spews millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River when it overflows. As part of the city’s capital improvement plans, Alexandria lawmakers are considering a plan to spend an additional $9.76 million to maintain the groundwater treatment system and the dredge and cap system.

VIRGINIA

Environmental group’s suit says Alexandria pollutes Potomac with coal tar

BY MARTIN WEIL AND NICOLE ASBURY

School systems and law en-
forcement officials throughout
the D.C. region indicated that
they would add security f or reas-
surance after the mass shooting
at a Texas elementary school in
which at least 19 children and
two adults were killed.
In the wake of the killings at
Robb Elementary School in Uval-
de, Tex., D.C. Public Schools
Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said
the system would “continue to
work closely” with the D.C. police
and other city agencies on school
security and on the well-being of
school communities.
He said this would include a
layered safety and security pro-
gram with school security guards
and with the D.C. police’s special-
ly trained school resource offi-
cers.
On Wednesday morning, three
D.C. police patrol cars were sta-
tioned outside of Roosevelt High
School the day after a man was
shot and critically wounded near
the school building. One police
officer stood outside the school’s

front doors as students walked into the school about 10 a.m. Also Wednesday, school officials in two Maryland counties responded to reports of threats to school buildings. In Prince George’s County, ad- ministrators notified parents of a brief lockdown at Green Valley Academy in Suitland. The almost 10-minute lockdown just before 11 a.m., was due to a false report of a person with a gun on school property, said a letter from the school’s acting principal. In Charles County, the school system was increasing police patrols near schools after a threat was made toward a local business and Gale-Bailey Elemen- tary. On Tuesday a man called the school and business and “made several threats of mass violence,” the sheriff’s office said. The calls were related to people the knew at the locations and appeared to be domestic-related. Sheriff’s officers arrested a man Wednesday in connection with making the threats. There will be an additional security presence at the elementary school this week, and addi-

tional security staff will be at elementary schools for the re- mainder of the school year, according to a statement Wednes- day from the school system. Po- lice will also patrol upcoming high school graduations and school celebrations. In Virginia, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office pledged an increased presence at county elementary schools to ensure that “our community feels safe in the schools.” “No known threats” exist, the sheriff’s office said, but “over the next several days” there will be an increased presence out of an abundance of caution. In Fairfax County, the school system assured parents that the safety of the schools and those in them was “our highest priority.” The school system said it al- ready has one of the “most ad- vanced school security systems in the nation” but would continue assessing it to “ensure the safest” environment possible. In Maryland, the Montgomery County police said community engagement officers would be “continuously checking” on

schools to ensure student safety. Anne Arundel County police also said residents might notice an increased security presence around schools this week. Police emphasized that this was not because of any threat to county schools but “simply to provide comfort.” In Takoma Park, police said they planned to increase patrols on foot and by car at all schools. Police in the city of Hyattsville also said they would bolster patrols and monitor social me- dia. On Wednesday morning, children giggled as they hopped off the school buses pulling into Takoma Park Elementary’s drive- way at about 9 a.m. Parents held their children’s hands as they walked the students to the school’s front doors. A car from the Takoma Park Police Department sat stationed in the school’s parking lot the day after the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in nearly a decade. Brad De Gregorio playfully chased his daughter around the Montgomery County elementary

school’s lawn before the doors opened. After his daughter walked into the building, he said he wasn’t concerned about her safety at school. De Gregorio, 42, has another student at Takoma Park Middle School, and he said the middle school responds well to incidents of violence or con- flict, and the responsiveness seems to “trickle down” to the elementary school. Montgomery County Public Schools — Maryland’s largest school system with about 159,000 students — sent a mes- sage to families late Tuesday evening mourning the children who were killed in Texas. The school system said it was com- mitted to the safety and well-being of all of its students and staffers. The school system finalized an agreement last month restoring a police presence in schools. The agreement allows for community engagement officers to be in county schools with a designated workspace. Rob Wilcox, a father of third and sixth grade students in Montgomery County’s school

system, said the district’s leader- ship has been doing everything it can to keep students safe by providing mental health resources and addressing access to guns in homes. “It’s heartbreaking to think about another group of parents who will never see their children again," Wilcox, 42, said by phone Wednesday afternoon as school was ending for the day. “Because of how often it happens in Ameri- ca, it’s hard not to be afraid for my own.” Wilcox added that he feels better living in a state like Mary- land, where the red-flag law exists and has been used to seize guns from people who are a danger to themselves or others. The law allows a relative, spouse, legal guardian or roommate to seek a court order to keep a person from possessing a gun. ”Although this is a country that makes it far too easy for people who are in crisis or at risk to themselves, at risk to others to get guns, we have a lot of strong laws in this state that I know make a difference in keeping us safe," Wilcox said.

THE REGION

Schools will ramp up security after Texas massacre ‘to provide comfort’

BY ANTONIO OLIVO

A trio of candidates backed by
members of the local Democratic
Party committee won seats on the
board of the McLean Community
Center in a fraught election that
infused the normally apolitical
center with controversy follow-
ing a “Drag StoryBook Hour”
event for preschoolers last sum-
mer.
With about 2,500 ballots cast
— more than 10 times the usual
amount — preliminary results
showed Kristina Groennings,
Anna Bartosiewicz and Ari
Ghasemian leading the other six
candidates by at least 750 votes.
Katherine Gorka, a former
Trump administration official
whose presence in the race gener-
ated intense concern among
Democrats, came in a distant
fourth place, with 643 votes,
preliminary results showed. The
election will be certified by the
county Board of Supervisors in
the coming weeks, which will
officially appoint the winners to
the board, a community center
spokeswoman said.
“It’s been a real wild ride,”
Groennings, 45, said about the
run-up to the election, during
which residents queried the can-
didates about their positions on

the Pride Month event, co-spon- sored by the center and a local library last June, that featured performers in drag reading aloud stories about gender fluidity to a group of children and their p arents. Groennings, who received the most votes with 1,531, said she understood the interest but sus- pects most in the liberal community of 50,000 don’t see a drag event as a high priority. “There are so many other things we can talk about,” she said.

The bulk of the voting oc- curred through absentee ballots cast in advance of the McLean Day family festival Saturday that served as the election’s main venue, a reflection of the aggressive lobbying on behalf of Groen- nings and her running mates by members of the Dranesville Dem- ocratic Party Committee. While Gorka was the sole Re- publican in the field, some local Democratic Party committee members worked to whip up votes by warning residents of a conservative plot to take over the

community center. “This year, the vote is more important than ever,” read one email from a former party committee chair to local Democrats. “Now, right-wing candidates have filed to run in this year’s election and the people of McLean deserve better than to accept an agenda of intolerance.” Julie Waters, the party committee chair, said none of the candidates received official en- dorsements, but she acknowl- edged that some members fa- vored the “more progressive”

candidates. The concerted effort angered several of the other candidates, who said the election was meant to be nonpartisan and about substantive issues affecting the community center, such as whether to install electric vehicle charging stations in the parking lot and whether the center’s gov- erning structure should be changed. “The aggressive campaigning going on is ridiculous,” Lauren Kahn, one of the candidates, wrote to a local newspaper.

“We will serve the entire Great- er McLean community, not the narrow agenda of any political party or other special-interest group,” another slate of three candidates — Maire Shine, James Lawless and Debra Butler — wrote in a different letter sent to the same newspaper. Groennings said she and her running mates worked harder than the others, spending their own money on campaign signs and get-out-the-vote efforts — a $2,000 expense for Groennings. “My 78-year-old mom was out canvassing every day for over two weeks,” she said. “I had people supporting my campaign that were not Democrats. I think that was really encouraging because that should be how the community board is run. It’s not sup- posed to be a political institu- tion.” Kathleen Gillette-Mallard, who was among a group of residents upset about the drag event, said she voted for Gorka, Groen- nings and Butler, based on their responses to questions about that issue. Though Gorka didn’t win, she said, the election showed that there is a substantial number of residents who are worried about the community center’s direc- tion. “We’ll see what happens,” G illette-Mallard said. “We will work with that new board and we will be calm and cool and reason- able and, hopefully, the concerns of a pretty big segment of people in the community will be heard.”

VIRGINIA

Democratic-backed candidates win heated McLean Community Center vote

BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST Candidate Kristina Groennings, center, received the most votes in the McLean Community Center election with 1,531.

BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST The local Democratic Party’s influence in the election angered several candidates, who said the vote was meant to be nonpartisan.

‘Drag StoryBook Hour’ infused controversy into normally apolitical board

The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-26)

Get our desktop app

Company

Features

Documentation

Resources