The Washington Post - 22.02.2020

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saturday, february 22 , 2020. washingtonpost.com/regional eZ sU b

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two men plead guilty to smash-

and-grab plots involving atMs

at 7-eleven stores. b4

obituaries

read about the lives of

residents of the D.C. area at

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BY REBECCA TAN

Ta koma Park, the liberal en-

clave just outside Washington

known as the “Berkeley of the

east,” i s debating whether to out-

law gas stoves, leaf blowers and

hot water heaters.

The Maryland city of 17,000

that voted nearly four decades ago

to become a “nuclear-free zone” i s

considering a total ban on fossil

fuels, part of a nationwide effort

by local governments to address

what they see as a lack of federal

action on climate change.

The proposal, which was first

raised in a new climate resolution,

would ban all gas appliances,

close fossil fuel pipelines, and

move gas stations outside city lim-

its by 2045. T he cost to the average

homeowner could reach $25,000,

officials wrote.

While not binding, the 2020

Climate emergency Response Act

will set the agenda for Ta koma

Park’s policymaking in coming

years. It has sparked robust dis-

cussion, drawing lines of resi-

dents to council meetings and

prompting long back-and-forths

on neighborhood listservs.

Cities elsewhere are also p aying

close attention, said Bruce nilles,

managing director of the Rocky

Mountain Institute, a national

group headquartered in Colora-

do.

Like Berkeley, Calif., or Port-

land, ore., Ta koma Park is seen as

a testing ground for the next wave

of climate policies — last year, a

gas station in the city became the

first in the country to completely

convert to electric charging.

some residents think an out-

right ban on all fossil fuels, which

has never been done in the United

states, could be too difficult to

implement — or too costly. But

others say bold measures are

needed to reach the city’s goal of

net-zero greenhouse gas emis-

sions by 2 035.

Given advancements in tech-

nology, environmental advocates

say, the change could also bring

cost savings and might not be as

dramatic a s some anticipate.

The city’s sustainability office

recently revised the resolution to

soften language on the proposed

ban, disappointing some activists.

But Ta koma Park Mayor Kate

stewart said the goal of “moving

off of fossil fuels” remains. The

possibility of a ban, she added,

will be discussed in coming

months.

natural gas has been heralded

for years as a cost-effective, clean-

er alternative to coal. But as the

coal industry declines, policy-

makers are turning their atten-

tion to underground gas lines

that, according to experts, con-

tribute a sizable percentage of

carbon emissions.

In 2019, Berkeley became the

first city in the United states to

ban the installation of natural gas

lines f or new buildings. More than

two dozen cities and counties

have followed suit. In Takoma

Park, some officials want to take

see takoma park on B4

Takoma Park contemplates first-in-nation ban on fossil fuels

Proposal splits Md. city

committed to net-zero

emissions by 2035

BY JULIE ZAUZMER

There are competing explana-

tions for why To ry Baucum

abruptly resigned his position as

the leader of the prominent Truro

Anglican Church in november

and has agreed not to set foot on

the property since.

Baucum says that after years as

an Anglican pastor, he made the

decision to resign his clerical

credentials and convert to Ca-

tholicism. Any tensions between

him and the staff at the church in

the northern Virginia city of

Fairfax, he says, were because of

his “passion” f or the theology of

the late Catholic Pope John

Paul II.

Church leaders say those ten-

sions arose from causes that have

little to do with Baucum’s theolo-

gy. His behavior in the workplace,

the leaders wrote in a summary of

an investigative report, was “abu-

sive,” “intimidating,” “coarse,”

“vulgar” and “unpredictable.”

Leaders of the congregation of

more than 1,200 members held a

meeting at the church this week

to try to explain the results of a

professional investigation into

Baucum’s conduct. They read the

summary and took questions

from church members, but they

did not make the investigator’s

report public.

The meeting, which packed the

historic sanctuary, left many

members confused and con-

cerned.

Truro helped lead an exodus of

15 Virginia churches from the

episcopal denomination in 2006,

in protest of the denomination’s

acceptance of homosexuality, es-

pecially its appointment of a gay

bishop. The church was one of the

most prominent in the United

states to leave over the issue. The

next year, Baucum took over as

rector — an Anglican term for

head pastor — as Truro was

facing the legal ramifications of

its exit from the denomination.

Under Baucum, the church

fought for ownership of its build-

ing. The episcopal Church ar-

gued that it owned the property

and won the battle in court. But

while nearby Falls Church Angli-

can, which also left the denomi-

nation, was eventually forced to

give up its historic building, Bau-

cum worked out a long-term

agreement with the episcopal

Diocese of Virginia to allow Truro

to use its former property rent-

free.

Baucum’s friendship with the

leader of the diocese, Bishop

shannon Johnston, garnered a

glowing new York Times profile

and praise from the Archbishop

of Canterbury. But some saw him

as too close to the denomination.

To p Anglican bishops con-

demned him for trying to open a

“school of peace and reconcilia-

tion” a long with the diocese. “The

decision... is not in harmony

with the Bible’s instruction in

dealing with false teachers,”

Archbishop Foley Beach wrote in

an open letter.

In Baucum’s church, he was

praised. A word that he used

frequently, and that congregants

often echoed in describing him, is

“peacemaker.”

“Tory’s gifts and leadership

have not only allowed Truro to

survive the past tumultuous de-

see truro on B2

Prominent Virginia church seeks to explain Anglican rector’s sudden exit

BY JOE HEIM,

AVA WALLACE

AND DANA HEDGPETH

For the second time in two

weeks, the U.s. naval Academy

has been rocked by the death of a

midshipman.

The academy announced Fri-

day that David Forney, 2 2, a senior

from Walkersville, Md., was found

unresponsive by a fellow midship-

man in Bancroft Hall, the school’s

dormitory, on Thursday evening.

Forney was transported to Anne

Arundel County Medical Center,

where h e was pronounced dead at

11:28 p .m.

officials said foul play was not

suspected and that the cause of

death was under investigation. A

senior political science major,

Forney was a starting offensive

guard on navy’s football team. He

was also a standout player at

Bethesda’s Georgetown Prepara-

tory school, from w hich h e gradu-

ated in 2015.

“The entire naval Academy

family — the Brigade of Midship-

men, the faculty, staff, and coach-

es — are heartbroken over the

tragic a nd unexpected loss of Mid-

shipman David Forney,” Vice

Adm. sean Buck, the 63 rd super-

intendent of the U.s. naval Acade-

my, said in a statement. “on behalf

of the naval Academy family, my

wife, Joanne, and I extend our

deepest condolences and heart-

felt sympathies to the Forney fam-

ily, their friends, as well as to

David’s extended naval Academy

family.”

see naval academy on B2

Another

death

at Naval

Academy

Foul play

is not suspected

Senior midshipman was

a football team leader

Piecing together t he past

A program by the Phillips Collection provides seniors with the opportunity to study art and make their own

photos by Marvin Joseph/the Washington post

top: From left,

yvonne Z. smith,

paulette thompson

and her mother,

evelyn Brown,

listen as avis Brock

gives them

instructions for

making a quilt

design in congress

heights.

leFt: patricia

onakoya works on

the project, which

reminds her of the

quilts her mother

made.

BY TARA BAHRAMPOUR

on a recent morning in southeast Washington, a group

of women sat in a circle, snipping colorful shapes and

arranging them in patterns, aware that in doing so, they

themselves were part of a pattern.

“I remember quilting circles from my childhood,” said

Yvonne s mith, 67, a retired health advocate who lives in the

Congress Heights neighborhood and was born in Lynch-

burg, Va. she recalled her great-grandmother t elling stories

as she pieced together quilts using pieces from her wedding

gown, a flour sack, a snippet of a baby diaper. They a ll had a

story.

Patricia onakoya, 70, nodded. “I still have the quilts my

mother made, and they’re very precious,” t he semiretired

teacher said. “she came from the south. so we’re first-gen-

eration Washingtonians. B ecause we didn’t w ant to discon-

nect from north Carolina and south Carolina, each sum-

see phillips on B2

BY FREDRICK KUNKLE

AND PAUL DUGGAN

A teenager shot and killed

outside his Charles County, Md.,

home Tuesday was the victim of a

robbery in which three youths

fled with a handful of vape car-

tridges containing THC, the

mood-altering ingredient in mar-

ijuana, a ccording t o investigators

and charging documents in the

case.

The county sheriff’s office said

Friday that two more suspects

had been arrested in the killing of

17-year-old Bradley A. Brown.

Meanwhile, a police spokesman

in nearby Prince George’s County

confirmed that Brown’s father

and two of his brothers are offi-

cers with that department.

The two suspects charged Fri-

day were identified as Mikayle T.

Qawwee, 19, and Keshawn K.

Belasco, 16, both residents of the

county’s Waldorf area. on

Wednesday, authorities arrested

Darryl e. Freeman, 17, also of

Waldorf.

The three were charged with

first-degree murder and related

crimes, with Belasco and Free-

man being charged as adults,

officials said.

Court records s how Freeman is

being represented by the Charles

County Public Defender’s office.

no one there could be reached

late Friday to comment on his

case. It wasn’t immediately clear

whether Qawwee and Belasco

have lawyers.

The shooting h appened short-

ly before 7 p.m. Tuesday in the

see teen on B2

O∞cials: Slain

Md. teen was

selling vape

cartridges

Virginia

senate’s majority leader blames

gun-sanctuary resolutions for

the denial of sheriffs’ raises. b 4