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friday, may 28, 2010
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70, 9 a.m. 69, noon 73, 5 p.m. 66, 9 p.m.
Obituaries Eldon “Took” Crowell, founding partner of the D.C. firm Crowell & Moring, was an expert in government contracts. B6
John Kelly’s Washington
The columnist will be online at noon Friday to discuss his writings and Washington’s offbeat stories. Go to
washingtonpost.com/local.
YOUR COMMUTE
This weekend’s obstacles
It’s Memorial Day weekend, and that means Rolling Thunder is roaring into town and Metro is doing rail work. We’ll help you plan your route around the chaos. B2
VIENNA/ FAIRFAX-
DUNN
WEST FALLS CHURCH
VA.
EAST FALLS CHURCH
Orange Line
LORING- BALLSTON MERRIFIELD
D.C. special-ed official issues apology
INITIATIVE MISHANDLED, PARENTS SAY
System tried to move kids from private back to public schools
by Bill Turque
The District’s top special education of-
ficial apologized to a roomful of anxious parents Wednesday night for mishan- dling an attempt to remove their chil- dren from private schools where they
had been placed at public expense be- cause the city was unable to meet their needs.
Richard Nyankori, deputy chancellor for special education, acknowledged se- rious problems with the initiative known as the “reintegration plan,” which he un-
dertook because he says the city now has the capacity to serve more students with disabilities in public and public charter schools or through some other form of support.
But many parents were angered and alarmed by what they described as the ad hoc, uncommunicative execution of the plan, saying they were informed without any previous consultation that their chil- dren would be moved at the end of the current school year. They said placement specialists hired by the District had noti- fied them of the impending moves, in some cases just weeks after their individ-
ual education plans — the documents specifying the special support their chil- dren would receive — were reviewed. “I get that, and I apologize for it,”
Nyankori told about 200 parents and lawyers who filled the cafeteria at Ran- dle Highlands Elementary School in Southeast. But he added that the District would continue to pursue the goal of re- turning students in private placements to public schools when appropriate. “The reintegration idea is one we’re going to hold on to,” he said. “The way it’s
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ROSSYLN
ROSSYLN
CRIME
An expert on the Wone knife
A forensic analyst says the knife found next to a lawyer’s body in his friends’ Swann Street townhouse could have been wiped with his blood in an effort to stage the crime scene. B4
METRO CENTER
GALLERY PLACE
L’ENFANT PLAZA
U-Va. begins court fight of subpoena by Cuccinelli
Probe of climate-change
professor exceeds authority, violates rights, school says
by Rosalind S. Helderman
richmond — Virginia’s flagship uni- versity went to court Thursday to fight an effort by Virginia Attorney Gen. Ken Cuccinelli II (R) to get documents from a former climate scientist at the school, an unusual confrontation that will test the bounds of academic freedom and result in the college facing down its own lawyer in court. In a motion filed in Charlottesville, the
University of Virginia argued that Cucci- nelli’s subpoena for papers and e-mail from global warming researcher Michael Mann exceeds the attorney general’s au- thority under state law and intrudes on the rights of professors to pursue aca- demic inquiry free from political pres- sure.
PHOTOS BY RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST
At Arlington, flags in for remembrance
Monica McNeal, rear, of Seattle hugs Molly Pannell of the District on a visit to the grave of McNeal’s son in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. At left, Army Sgt. Michael Evans and other members of the 529th Regimental Support Company at Fort Myer place some of the more than 250,000 flags delivered to Arlington graves for the Memorial Day weekend.
Cuccinelli, a vocal skeptic of global warming who is suing the Environ- mental Protection Agency over the issue, has said he is investigating whether Mann committed fraud by knowingly skewing data as he sought publicly fund- ed grants for his research. Mann left U- Va. in 2005 and now works at Penn State. Mann’s case has been embraced by academics across the country, who wrote numerous letters encouraging the uni- versity founded by Thomas Jefferson to resist the attorney general. The univer- sity’s governing board — whose mem- bers were appointed by former gover- nors Mark R. Warner and Timothy M. Kaine, both Democrats — had first sig- naled that it would likely comply with the April order but then hired a major Washington law firm and prepared to take action. University President John T. Casteen III said in a statement that Cuccinelli’s order had “sent a chill through the Com- monwealth’s colleges and universities.” Although Virginia universities have at times tangled with political leaders in
cuccinelli continued on B4
F
evening. They sat and talked, laughed and
flirted. He touched her hand once. “Oh, no,” she gasped as she quickly pulled her tiny hand away from his big one. Her brother was nearby, chaperoning.
An Iraqi war widow finds solace among U.S. counterparts
PETULA DVORAK
or weeks, with the tumult of war-torn Baghdad swirling around them, they met on a bench every
But she was captivated by Maj. James
Ahearn’s startling blue eyes and fair skin. She thinks of those eyes every day as she’s chatting with clients at the Shirling- ton beauty salon where she does hair. Lena Ahearn is 34 and lives in Ballston with her 4-year-old daughter, Kadi, short for Khadijah. She is one of the more unlikely war widows gathering in Washington this weekend for a National
Memorial Day Concert— an Iraqi woman still grieving three years after her American husband was killed by a roadside bomb while on a patrol in her home town, Baghdad.
And while much of America will be
celebrating Memorial Day weekend with cookouts or trips to the beach, Lena is going to finish her shift, sweep up the wet curls of hair on the floor at the salon and take her daughter to Arlington
National Cemetery, where the love of her life is buried in Section 60. The Ahearns met in Baghdad in 2003, where he was the patrol captain in charge of Lena’s neighborhood. When he paid a visit to her family’s home, “I was the only one in the house who spoke English, so my mom woke me up.” Lena told me in her heavily accented English. “So I came out and I looked at him. And I was like: ‘Those blue eyes! Oh, man, he has beautiful white teeth! And he has the strong officer face.’ He told me he finishes his duty at 8 at night. And he came back. We sat on the bench. And we talked until 11 at night. He did that every night for a month.” They fell in love during those many
dvorak continued on B5
D.C.’s Gray is denied an exception for too-tall fence
by Ann E. Marimow
D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C.
COURTESY OF LENA AHEARN
Lena Ahearn met her husband, Maj. James Ahearn, while he was on patrol in Baghdad. Their daughter, Kadi, is 4.
Fairfax teacher found not guilty of molestation
by Tom Jackman
A Fairfax County jury needed only 47 minutes Thursday to find a popular schoolteacher not guilty of molesting a 12-year-old girl in their school gym this year.
Sean Lanigan, 43, smiled and tears flowed among his dozens of supporters in the courtroom as the verdicts were read, clearing him of charges of aggra- vated sexual battery and abduction. The case against him hinged on the testi- mony of two sixth-grade girls at Centre Ridge Elementary School in Centreville
who said Lanigan had scooped up one of them in the school gym, carried the girl into an equipment room, laid her down on a mat and massaged her shoulders, groping her in the process. Lanigan testified Wednesday that he did no such thing. The married father of three said he treated students the way he treated his own children, picking them up, twirling them around, laughing and joking. He taught at Centre Ridge for 12 years and coached youth soccer through- out Northern Virginia for 20 years. Lanigan and five other people testi-
fied that there were no mats in the equipment room. The main accuser al-
leged that Lanigan briefly touched her breast and buttock during the incident. But she also acknowledged having a grudge against Lanigan for threatening to remove her from bus patrol because of bullying and profanity on the bus. Jurors said the prosecution had no case, and that after reading their legal instructions, it took the seven women and five men about 10 minutes of delib- eration to come to their unanimous deci- sion. “It was an easy decision,” said juror
Asmaa al-Ghafari. “I just hope Mr. Lani- gan can get his life back.” “There was no evidence,” juror Jack-
lyn West said. “There was no case.” Lanigan said his arrest, suspension without pay and the subsequent pub- licity had destroyed his life. When his at- torney, Peter D. Greenspun, discussed the devastation to Lanigan in his closing argument, West broke down in tears, and the trial was briefly recessed. Jurors said the accuser “had no idea of the consequences” of saying that Lani- gan had molested her, West said. “This poor man. That’s why I cried.” Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh said he respected
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Gray must lower or move the black alu- minum fence that surrounds his Hill- crest home, a city committee ruled Thursday, one week after neighborhood leaders had given it their blessing. In less than 30 minutes, the Public Space Committee determined that there was no compelling justification to allow Gray’s fence, which is 5 feet 7 inches tall, to exceed the District’s height limit on fences built in a public right of way. Granting exceptions to the limit, com-
mittee chairman Karina Ricks said, “sets precedent,” and the panel strives to “hold very consistent, despite sympathies we might feel for property owners.” The decision by the obscure but pow-
erful committee was the latest twist in the five-months-and-counting fence saga that has become part of the mayoral race. Gray, who is challenging Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in the Democratic primary, put up the fence two years ago without a per- mit. His rival technically oversees the committee that Gray was seeking ap- proval from Thursday. Fenty has not publicly discussed the fence, but city Attorney General Peter Nickles has said he has monitored the process to ensure that Gray is treated like any other resident. It is not uncommon, Ricks said, for homeowners to be un- aware of such permit requirements, but Nickles has said Gray should have known.
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