SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010


KLMNO


S


C5


JAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST


Eileen Ross, wearing clothes with the likeness of slain trooper Wesley Brown, holds Ni Ni Boyd, Brown’s goddaughter.


Hundreds turn out to mourn slain Md. state trooper


funeral from C1


Brown was stabbed on one occa- sion and shot in the leg on an- other. At 20, he was accepted into the State Police, and that same year he started a program to save teenagers from the pitfalls of a community too familiar with the needle and the gun.


“I became a squared-away young man,” Shaquille Jones said of the program Brown founded, Young Men Enlightening Young- er Men. “And I’ll never forget that smile.” His work to “make a differ-


ence” in the lives of at-risk young men and the smile with which he pursued life were reoccurring themes. “He taught us all that a bright smile was disarming,” said Lt. Bonnie Morris, who commanded the Forestville barracks of the State Police when Brown was transferred there from LaPlata. “Wesley’s dream was to make a difference in the lives of chil- dren.” Eugene Grant, the mayor of


Seat Pleasant, spoke of Brown’s love for his family and the neigh- borhood where he was raised.


“It’s important that you under- stand one word about Wesley, and that’s love,” Grant said, ges- turing the pews where young men from Brown’s program were seated. “He gave love to these young men seated to my right.” Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) en-


couraged the assembled to sus- tain what Brown had begun. “Just as Wesley never forgot about these young men, we must honor his legacy by not forgetting them either,” O’Malley said. In his eulogy, the Rev. Robert


W. Trice Jr. said, simply: “He showed us how to serve his broth- er man, and no one had to beg him to do it.” Brown’s casket, draped in a


Maryland state flag, was escorted into the church by an honor guard of white-gloved state troopers. The banks of flowers spread out to either side of it in- cluded one in the design of a State Police cruiser, and a state trooper’s hat was nested in an ar- ray of flowers placed atop the cas- ket.


After the benediction, Brown’s family and friends exited to find hundreds of law enforcement of- ficers standing at attention to sa-


LOCAL DIGEST MARYLAND


CASA opens center in Langley Park


CASA of Maryland, a Latino and immigrant service organiza- tion, opened its new $13.8 million multicultural center in Langley Park Saturday.


About 20 people protested out- side the entrance against use of taxes to help fund the facility. —Kevin Sieff


Campaign canvasser fired after drug arrest


Acanvasser for the campaign of


D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) was fired after being arrested Fri- day in connection with an alleged attempt to sell crack to an un- dercover police officer. Demetrius Eccles was arrested


at Georgia Avenue and Piney Branch Road NW, according to a law enforcement source. No age


or address was available. He be- gan working this month for the campaign, but a campaign spokeswoman said he is “no lon- ger” on the staff. She said he was not on duty at the time of his ar- rest.


—Nikita Stewart and Clarence Williams TRANSPORTATION


D.C., Md. praised in driving safety report


The effort to reduce accidents caused by distracted driving has gained nationwide momentum, as states enact laws against text- ing and cellphone use, according to a report issued Tuesday. The Governors Highway Safety Asso- ciation report gave the District and Maryland high marks and ranked Virginia a notch lower, primarily because it has not in- cluded distracted driving in its state safety program. —Ashley Halsey III


Road closures for Sunday’s Triathlon


The Washington D.C. Triathlon will be held Sunday and includes Olympic and sprint distance courses. The sprint race begins at 5:30 a.m., and the Olympic distance course begins at 6:30 a.m. Intermittent street closings will be in effect from about 4 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.


al Heights Zoo


Naval Observ.


Burleith


RESERVOIR RD.


Georgetown 10:00


Rosslyn 50 66 10:10 Cemetery


Arlington Nat’l


0 MILE Pentagon 395 1


Start for all races


M ST. K ST.


White House


E ST. CONSTITUTION AVE.


Lincoln Mem.


INDEP. AVE.


Tidal Basin


395


M Motorists Nationals


should expect rolling road closures along the race course


ST.


Nationals Ballpark


B THE WASHINGTON POST U.S. Capitol Ea 395 H ST.


Finish for all races


11:30 C Scott Circle O ST. 50 10:00


Pleasant Heights


Adams Morgan


Columbia Height


Bike route Run route


MARK GAIL/THE WASHINGTON POST The funeral procession stretched for miles as it headed onto the Capital Beltway bound for the cemetery.


lute their fallen colleague as the hearse took up its duty. The pro- cession of police cruisers and mo- torcycles, limousines and other vehicles stretched for miles as it headed onto the Capital Beltway bound for Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland.


Brown was shot to death June 11, shortly after midnight, while working as an off-duty security guard at the Applebee’s restau- rant in Forestville. He was in plain clothes but wearing his badge on a lanyard around his neck. His State Police cruiser was


parked nearby. Not long after he escorted an unruly patron from the estab- lishment he was standing outside talking on his cellphone when someone fired six shots, one striking him in the ankle and an- other that made its way around


ROBERT McCARTNEY At the end, Brooks had one more gift to give mccartney from C1


was a mix of golden retriever, terrier and other, unknown, breeds. My son named her “Brooks,” in honor of his school, Westbrook Elementary in Bethesda. We were amused at the


extensive background checks required by the pound. Fenced yard? Check. Someone at home all day? Check. Are they going to ask us our SAT


scores? It only took a year or so before I realized I’d been wrong to resist. I had expected dog care would be only a bother, like making beds or taking out garbage. Instead, the responsibility was often satisfying, even enriching. I think that’s because a dog is a living being and has a personality. Limitless affection repays one’s labors. The chores also helped bring the family together by giving us a focus. Has Brooks been fed? Who’s going to walk her? Later, when she developed arthritis: Has the dog had her aspirin? She gave us an excuse to be silly, to talk baby talk. She truly became amember of the family, a phenomenon I hadn’t fully appreciated beforehand. Despite that, I wasn’t


Bloomingdale


Estimated time roads will reopen


Edgew


psychologically ready for the end even as Brooks became deaf and increasingly feeble in her old age. Oh, I was prepared for it


intellectually. When my wife told me of the vets’ diagnosis, I tried to minimize it by saying something like, “Well, we’ve known it was coming.” But my actual state of mind —


acute denial — was evident in that initial desire to avoid being present when the light in Brooks’s eyes was extinguished. That also was typical of me. I’ve


gradually realized in my 50s that I tend to avoid funerals. I’m adept at finding reasons why it’s too inconvenient to go. Looking back, I can think of several relatives and friends’ parents whose funerals I now wish I’d attended. That awareness was nagging at me when I reversed course during the phone call and told my wife I’d come to the clinic after all. I didn’t want to regret having shied away again. In the last hour or so I spent with Brooks, I came to recognize what I’d been avoiding: powerful


Brooks with Daniel McCartney. When she joined the family, he named her after his school, Westbrook Elementary in Bethesda.


BARBARA MCCARTNEY


“sensitive New Age guy.” In our culture, though, even for


feelings of sorrow and loss. I got choked up as I arrived and


saw her limping down the street with my wife on her final outdoor walk. I wept softly as I petted her and tried to sooth her as she lay on the floor and wheezed before her end. Tears were on my cheeks for a dozen people to see in the waiting room as I paid the bill afterward. This was unfamiliar. I don’t cry


much, and virtually never in public. I can still remember an evening in my teens when I tried to hide tears from my father as we left the movie theater after I broke down over the end of “West Side Story.” I’m ashamed to show such emotions even though I’m hardly amacho type. I like to consider myself more of a SNAG, or


SNAGs, masculinity often translates as stoicism. Impassiveness. Suppressing feelings. And that’s what I’ve been doing, when it comes to death. I’ve avoided funerals because I’d rather feel nothing than feel bad. So I felt a tangle of emotions in the small, antiseptic treatment room where the vet put Brooks down. On one hand, I was embarrassed to be crying. On the other, I was conscious that I was experiencing and displaying sentiment much more than normal. The latter awareness was a new one, and I was satisfied about it. I even took some pride in it. It was evidence I had grown emotionally. Instead of staying safely in my head as usual, I’d ventured into the heart.


So, though “only” an animal, she helped me be more fully human. Thanks, Brooks. mccartneyr@washpost.com


WE CREATE WIRED SENIORS. Free! If you are age 55 or better and are “computer shy” (or computer scared), Generations On Line may be the program for you!


Thanks to a grant from Senior Service America, JCA Aging


® ® — the Jewish Council for the


— can enroll you for free in its easy- to-use, self-paced, step-by-step tutorial designed especially to help midlife and older adults use Internet and email. We provide Peer Coaches, too.


All you need to do is call Linda Reaves at


(240) 395-0918, and then attend our program in Bethesda or Silver Spring.


Call today! Space is limited.


Jewish Council for the Aging® 301.255.4200 • 703.425.0999 • www.AccessJCA.org


JCA serves seniors of all faiths, ethnicities and income levels. We help all seniors thrive!


8127 52847 RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST Brown’s mother, Patricia Bell, is comforted by friends at Jericho City of Praise church after the funeral services. on washingtonpost.com


Hundreds embrace memory of trooper


Family and friends join his law enforcement brother-


hood to send Wesley Brown on his final journey. postlocal.com


his bullet-proof vest to strike him in the heart. Police later arrested two men who were charged with the shoot- ing.


Cyril Cornelius Williams, 27, was identified by police as the man who had been ejected from the restaurant. Police said he re- turned to Applebee’s with a friend, Anthony A. Milton II, 28, who handed him the handgun. Milton admitted to participating in the shooting, police said. The men — both residents of the same Seat Pleasant communi- ty where Brown was raised — have been jailed on first-degree murder charges. halseya@washpost.com


CONN. AVE.


WISC. AVE.


COLUM


MASS. AVE.


Potomac


BIA


R


C


COLUMBIA RD.


D.


23RD ST.


17TH ST.


16TH ST. 14TH ST. 9TH ST. 7TH ST. 7TH ST. 6TH ST.


S. CAP. ST.


N. CAP. ST.


AVE.


C


v i


N.H. AVE.


N.H. AVE.


K MAINE AVE.


R


R.I. AVE.


N.Y. AVE.


MASS. AVE.


PA. AVE.


PA. AVE. ITEHUR


O


e


R


r


R . P K W


Y .


S T F R


W Y .


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170