The Washington Post - 28.08.2019

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 B3

There’s an old Monty Python sketch about learning to fly that ends by cutting to a man sitting at a desk behind a name plate that reads “BALPA Spokesman.” Commenting on the previous sketch, the man says, “The British Air Line Pilots Association would like to point out that it takes a chap six years to become a fully qualified airline pilot, and not two. I didn’t want to seem a bit of an old fusspot just now, you know, but it’s just as easy to get these things right... .” It’s just as easy to get these things right. I think that’s what undergirded my annoyance at the U.S. Postal Service for producing a T-shirt that appears to feature an illustration of a Soviet airliner (along with the words “United States Post Service”). An hour spent thinking, “I wonder what actual airplanes have actually carried U.S. Air Mail” could have prevented embarrassment. After my recent column on that T-shirt, I heard from several readers about another Postal Service boo-boo involving a different form of transportation. Now, I don’t like piling on the post office. I like the post office. It can’t be easy delivering 150 billion pieces of mail a year. The vast majority of the things I mail get where they’re going on time, early even. When the Postal Service is being criticized for not doing enough to stop the flow of fentanyl sent by mail — as outlined in a recent Post story — then obsessing over a wonky T- shirt can seem silly.

Yet, it’s just as easy to get these things right. Mike Hoyt of Silver Spring was among stamp-fancying readers irritated by a poster featuring an image of a steam train that went up in post offices around the country in May. The poster announces coming commemorative stamps, including ones celebrating Marvin Gaye, Ellsworth Kelly, Woodstock, frogs and military working dogs. The train on the poster itself is apparently related to a handsome set of stamps marking the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. It’s quite a nice steam train, but if you’re really into trains, you know it’s a British locomotive from the 1940s — an LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0, to be exact — not either of the trains involved in the setting of the famous Golden Spike. Wrote Mike: “They probably hired the same young designer for whom all steam locomotives and propeller planes are the same.” (A letter of Mike’s on the subject was published in Linn’s Stamp News.) Ed Warner, who splits his time between Rehoboth Beach, Del., and the District, noticed the poster, too. He pointed out that the British passenger train and locomotive are unlikely to have ever carried U.S. mail. The stamps themselves depict the correct trains. “I bought a sheet of them,” Ed wrote. Should we care? The stamps are right. Is it okay if the poster is designed to simply evoke vaguely trainish thoughts in our minds? Kevin Tucker thinks not. He’s a stamp collector in Delaware. “In my opinion, making these marketing mistakes speaks to a bigger issue inside of the USPS,”

Kevin wrote. “Who is signing off on these projects? Who is giving the final approval?” Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer emailed: “The locomotive depicted on the poster is a generic image used to

draw attention to the arrival of 10 new Postal Service Forever stamps. It was not chosen to represent the Transcontinental Railroad stamp image.” Of course, journalists aren’t immune to these sorts of

problems. Even before I became one I remember hearing someone say, “Whenever you read an article on a subject that you actually know something about, you notice all the mistakes.” This is especially true when it comes to certain subjects. A colleague of mine once said, “When you write about the Civil War, you will always get one thing wrong and you will always hear about it from someone.” I’ve found that to be true. We live in an age when it’s easier than ever for our embarrassing mistakes to be broadcast around the world, thanks to social media and the Web. But it also should be easier not to make them in the first place.

Mistakes were made As a drummer, it always bugs me when I see a drum set illustrated in a clumsy fashion: the tom-toms at weird angles, the high-hat cymbals all wrong. What jumps out at you in illustrations or articles? Do writers make the same mistakes on a subject you’re expert in? Send details — with “Always Wrong” in the subject line — to me at [email protected].

Reunited and it feels so good These high school classes are reuniting in the coming weeks. Oxon Hill High Class of 1969 — Sept. 13 to 15. Contact Skip Strobel at 202-543-5158 or [email protected]. Winston Churchill High Class of 1979 — Oct. 5. Search “Winston Churchill Class of 1979” on Facebook. [email protected] Twitter: @johnkelly

For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/john-kelly.

With its train poster, is the Postal Service o≠ track again? Not exactly.

John

Kelly's

Washington

KEVIN TUCKER The British locomotive on a poster for commemorative stamps is a “a generic image used to draw attention to the arrival of 10 new Postal Service Forever stamps” and “was not chosen to represent the Transcontinental Railroad stamp image,” a spokesman says.

THE DISTRICT

College student from D.C. is killed in N.M.

A 22-year-old college student from Washington was one of three people killed in a shooting early Sunday in Hobbs, N.M., police said. Four other people were wounded. Hobbs police said Lamar Lee Kane Jr. was one of the three who died. He was listed as a student and athlete at University of the Southwest in Hobbs. Police said one person has been arrested. — Martin Weil

Death of girl, 3, is ruled a homicide

The death of a 3-year-old girl who was found unconscious in March has been ruled a homicide, D.C. police said Tuesday. Police said Anniebelle Marsh died at a hospital after being found March 15 in the 1900 block of Savannah Terrace SE. According to police, the cause of her death was determined by the medical examiner’s office to be complications from blunt- force injuries. — Martin Weil

MARYLAND

Two men slain in Pr. George’s County

Two men were found shot to death in a car Tuesday in Prince George’s County, police said. They were found about 9:45 p.m. at Indian Head Highway and Bald Eagle Road in the Oxon Hill area, according to a county police spokesman. — Martin Weil

VIRGINIA

Police ID body found at Great Falls Park

The U.S. Park Police have identified a body that was found in Great Falls Park in Virginia on Saturday. Police identified the man as Russell Larkin, 77, of Northern Virginia. Larkin was reported missing to Fairfax County police about 10:30 p.m. Friday, according to the department. His body was discovered by kayakers on Saturday. Park Police said an investigation showed that Larkin fell onto rocks. Larkin, who was known as Gene, was pastor of Chesterbrook United Methodist Church from 2011 until his retirement three years ago, said the Rev. Daniel Park. — Laurel Demkovich and Martin Weil

Pedestrian struck, killed in Loudoun

A pedestrian died after being struck by a vehicle Tuesday in Loudoun County. Authorities said Perveen Bilal Bin Butt, 61, of Ashburn, was struck about 5 a.m. on Waxpool Road east of Ashburn Village Boulevard. Loudoun County Sheriff ’s Office investigators said that Butt wasn’t in a crosswalk at the time of the crash and that the driver remained at the scene. — Dana Hedgpeth and Justin Wm. Moyer

LOCAL DIGEST

BY JUSTIN WM. MOYER

Almost 24 million tourists visit- ed the District last year, the city’s official marketing organization said Tuesday. It was the ninth consecutive record year for the city, even as the number of foreign visitors fell. Destination DC, a nonprofit organization funded by the city’s hotel occupancy tax, said 23.8 million people came to Washington in 2018, an increase of 1 million com- pared with a year earlier. Those visitors spent $7.8 billion, paid $851 million in local taxes and supported more than 76,000 jobs, according to the organization. Without tourists, District tax- payers would have to pay more than $2,800 per household to maintain the current level of tax receipts, Destination DC officials said. The number of visitors to the city has increased annually since 2011, when the District recorded a then-record 17.9 million tourists. “We will continue creating new destinations and giving travelers reason to return, because when our tourism industry does well so do our local businesses and work- ers,” Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said in a statement. Almost 22 million of the Dis- trict’s visitors came from other parts of the country, while about 2 million foreign travelers came to the city last year, a decrease of more than 5 percent from a year

earlier. The number of visitors from China — the city’s largest overseas market — was down 25 percent with 226,000 visitors from that country, even as those who came stayed longer and booked more nights in hotels. International visitors represent 8 percent of tourist visits to the District but 27 percent of the visi- tor spending. The decline in foreign visitors to Washington came as foreign

arrivals in the United States, as measured by the Commerce De- partment’s National Travel and Tourism Office, set a record of nearly 80 million in 2018. Elliott L. Ferguson II, president of Destination DC, said the Dis- trict’s many free sightseeing destinations are a major draw for travelers from around the world. Though the number of foreign visitors dropped last year, people around the world remain interest-

ed in coming to the city, he said. “The international community is not saying they’re not wanting to come to us or Washington,” he said. “They’re just delaying.” The numbers were announced as Destination DC unveiled a “Stay Local DC” advertising campaign with the goal of driving local and regional business to the city dur- ing the slower January and Febru- ary months. [email protected]

THE DISTRICT

City breaks tourism record for ninth year in a row

Results from Aug. 27

DISTRICT Mid-Day Lucky Numbers: 3-6-8 Mid-Day DC-4: 1-1-0-0 Mid-Day DC-5: 2-1-8-6-7 Lucky Numbers (Mon.): 8-8-2 Lucky Numbers (Tue.): 2-8-2 DC-4 (Mon.): 3-0-9-8 DC-4 (Tue.): 6-4-3-7 DC-5 (Mon.): 4-9-7-5-1 DC-5 (Tue.): 5-1-7-3-9

MARYLAND Day/Pick 3: 1-9-4 Pick 4: 1-7-4-8 Night/Pick 3 (Mon.): 9-9-9 Pick 3 (Tue.): 9-9-4 Pick 4 (Mon.): 6-8-4-8 Pick 4 (Tue.): 1-3-0-3 Multi-Match (Mon.): 11-14-17-36-37-39 Match 5 (Mon.): 2-10-14-26-27 *37 Match 5 (Tue.): 8-12-24-33-38 *11 5 Card Cash: 6S-7H-JC-10S-9D

VIRGINIA Day/Pick-3: 3-0-8 Pick-4: 2-4-4-5 Cash-5 (Tue.): 5-7-15-21-31 Night/Pick-3 (Mon.): 0-7-6 Pick-3 (Tue.): 2-1-4 Pick-4 (Mon.): 4-0-5-4 Pick-4 (Tue.): 5-1-2-7 Cash-5 (Mon.): 1-7-14-26-34 Cash-5 (Tue.): 1-18-23-26-34

MULTI-STATE GAMES Cash 4 Life: 17-22-47-55-60 ¶1 Mega Millions: 8-12-23-39-43 **6 Megaplier: 2x Lucky for Life: 9-25-30-37-48 ‡14 *Bonus Ball **Mega Ball ‡Lucky Ball ¶Cash Ball For late drawings and other results, check washingtonpost.com/local/lottery

LOTTERIES

MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST Visitors to the Mall await festivities on Independence Day. Although the number of foreign visitors to the District fell last year, the city still welcomed a record number of tourists.

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