The Washington Post - USA (2021-12-25)

KLMNO

METRO

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25 , 2021. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/LOCAL EZ M2 B

ReligiON

Longshoremen find an

oasis and ‘bare-knuckle

theology’ in a Catholic

chapel in Newark. B2

The RegiON

A guide to closings, traffic,

parking and trash pickup

in Virginia, Maryland and

D.C. on Christmas. B4

OBiTuaRieS

Manuel Santana, 83, won

four Grand Slam singles

titles and became a

52 ° 61 ° 66 ° 61 ° national hero in Spain. B5

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

High today at approx. 3 p.m.

67

°

Precip: 80% Wind: SSW 8-16 mph

BY MICHELLE BOORSTEIN

It was Christmas Eve and the Rev. Alyssa Aldape was getting ready for work. Over her decade in Baptist youth ministry, Dec. 24 meant prepping sermons at the church, sending out last-minute Christmas emails to her young people, robing up. After church, her Mexican American family would have tamales. But this Christmas Eve day, Aldape was in her Van Ness apartment, in a green turtleneck and jeans, drinking iced coffee and getting ready for her shift at the retailer Madewell. She’d clock in, then spend the afternoon folding sweaters and greeting last-minute holiday shoppers at the door with her big smile and “Hi! Welcome!” “At the store they’re like: ‘You’re so good at welcoming people!’” said Aldape, her smile shifting into a chuckle and then into tears. For the first time in a decade, the 34-year-old wouldn’t be pastoring a congregation on Christmas Eve. “I miss doing that with my people,” she said. Her fiance put his hand on her back as their Christmas tree twinkled behind them. Aldape is part of an exodus of clergy who have left ministry in the past couple years because of a powerful combination of pandemic demands and political stress. Amid fights about masks and vaccine mandates, to how far religious leaders can go in expressing political views that might alienate some of their followers, to whether Zoom creates or stifles spiritual community, pastoral SEE CLERGY ON B3

An exodus of American clergy

The pandemic and politics have burned out some church leaders

Note to readers

Because of the holiday, the District and Maryland did not report coronavirus cases and deaths Friday. The District, Maryland and Virginia will not report on Saturday, and the District and Virginia will not report on Sunday. Virus case totals for the region will next be printed Tuesday through Saturday.

TOP: Tom Knoll, seen outside his home in Maryland, served at First Trinity Lutheran Church in the District for decades before retiring early. ABOVE: The Rev. Alyssa Aldape wraps gifts with her fiance, Nick Schaufelberger, at their home in Washington.

CAroLyN VAN HouTEN/THE WASHiNGToN PoST

BY JUSTIN JOUVENAL

Black youths were more than twice as likely to be referred to Virginia’s juvenile justice system as their White peers, even as the number of teens in statewide programs and detention centers has plunged more than 70 percent over the past decade, according to a new report by a state watchdog. The wide-ranging analysis — one of the most probing looks at how the state handles young offenders in years — also found that many teens are not receiving quality legal representation, re- cidivism is high among youths at juvenile detention centers because rehabilitation programs are ineffective, and state and local officials are paying for facilities where 70 percent of beds are unoccupied. The report by the Joint Legis- lative Audit and Review Commis- sion (JLARC) to the state legisla- ture and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) also recommended closing the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center, the state’s last juvenile prison, and replac- ing it with smaller facilities scattered across the state that would keep youths closer to parents and allow more space for treatment. SEE JUVENILE ON B2

Inequity

found in

juvenile

system

BLACK MINORS FACE HIGHER REFERRALS

Youth detention down 70%, Va. report also finds

BY DONNA ST. GEORGE

For Jessica Hasson, a mother of two in Maryland, keeping children healthy during the pandemic is a priority — but keeping them in school is, too. “Anything that we can do to give children some normalcy and consistency is a great thing,” said Hasson, a clinical psychologist who lives in Gaithersburg. She and others say one way to accomplish that safely is the growing school approach of “test- to-stay.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended the practice, which allows unvaccinated students exposed to the coronavirus by a classmate to get tested regu- larly at school to make sure they are not infected. If they are nega- tive, they stay in school. The Montgomery County SEE SCHOOLS ON B3

Md. school

system to

ramp up

‘test-to-stay’

Montgomery County says practice has helped keep exposed students in class

BY DANA HEDGPETH

Sharpshooters will help reduce the burgeoning population of white-tailed deer this winter at several national parks in Mary- land and West Virginia by participating in a managed program with wildlife officials. The venison will then be donated to area food banks. The culling operation will hap- pen at Catoctin Mountain Park, Antietam and Monocacy national battlefields, and at Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and Harpers Ferry national historical parks, according to the National Park Service. The hunts are expected to take place at Harpers Ferry from Jan. 1 to March 31, and at the other parks from Feb. 1 to March 31. Park Service officials said in a statement that the operation is being done to “protect and restore native plants, promote healthy and diverse forests, and preserve

historic landscapes.” The sharpshooters will work at night when most of the parks are closed, and parts of the parklands will be closed during the hunting, officials said. There will also be “extensive safety measures” in place to protect the parks’ neighbors and visitors when the hunts are underway, according to park officials. Managed deer hunts have be- come a way of dealing with the growing herds at national parks, including at Rock Creek in D.C., although it hasn’t been without controversy; some animal rights activists have protested the practice.

When possible, National Park Service officials said, the meat col- lected in the hunts will be donated to local food banks. Last year, more than 6,500 pounds of venison were donated to food banks from similar deer removal programs done by the Park Service. Amy Bachman, the director of procurement at DC Central Kitch- en, said that her group has been participating with the Park Serv- ice for the past decade by taking culled venison and that it is help- ful to serving her organization’s clients. This year, she said, DC Central Kitchen expects to get about 1,000 pounds of venison from the coming hunts and plans to use it for venison chili or Bolog- nese sauce that is sent to area shelters and nonprofit groups. “It helps make sure we have variety, and we’re providing a nu- tritious meal to all of our clients,” Bachman said. “We’re doing meals SEE DEER ON B4

Deer cull set for parks in Md., W.Va.

Hunts between Jan. 1 and March 31 intended to protect ecosystem

BY JASMINE HILTON

AND DONOVAN J. THOMAS

Hundreds of cars and dozens of spectators packed the parking lots of the Kingstowne Towne Center in Northern Virginia on a Satur- day night in November, leaving behind rubber tire marks burned onto the pavement and scattered trash. A week later in downtown Silver Spring, crowds outside a movie theater watched as a band of cars blocking an intersection spun doughnuts, filling the air with clouds of smoke and the roars

of engine revs. And in the Balti- more area in March, police said an illegal street race caused a crash that sent at least two people to shock trauma. Over the past year, neighbors and law enforcement across the Washington region and the Unit- ed States have raised alarms over what they say is an uptick of unruly car events or street racing that have disrupted traffic, result- ed in crashes or ended with fatali- ties. The concerns have been so severe that at least one state changed the law to make burnouts and doughnuts illegal, and police departments nationwide have launched new enforcement initia- tives to crack down on the activity. Locally, law enforcement has seen an increase in such car meet- ups since the start of the pandem- SEE STREET RACING ON B6

Police mobilize to fight

rise in unruly car meets

Street racing in region and U.S. has disrupted traffic and led to crashes

MiCHAEL S. WiLLiAMSoN/THE WASHiNGToN PoST