ABCDE METRO thursday, july 1, 2010 POSTLOCAL.COM 70, 9 a.m. 75, noon 79, 5 p.m. 72, 9 p.m.


Obituaries British engineer Charles Spencer King, 85, was considered to be the father of the Range Rover sport-utility vehicle, which has become a status symbol. B7


‘Top Chef D.C.’ Chat with the latest losing chef at 1:30 p.m. Go to PostLocal.com.


VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND


New laws go into effect Thursday Winter legislative sessions approved 900 bills; one governs concealed weapons. B4


LOCAL LIVING


Your community Find your Local Living section inside today’s Post, with school and government news, volunteer and calendar listings, home sales and crime reports.


Va. student’s killing leaves friends, police at a loss by Tom Jackman


The fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old Fair- fax County woman is turning into a homi- cide squad’s worst scenario: a slaying by a stranger. The tearful anecdotes told by dozens of friends of Vanessa Pham at a candlelight vigil for her Tuesday night confirmed a vi-


sion of a vibrant, funny, talented college student who had no enemies or angry ex- boyfriends. But that leaves Fairfax police with no suspects and no motive in the death of the Northern Virginia native, who was found dead Sunday inside her car near Route 50 shortly after it veered off a service road into a ravine. Investigators have scoured the area near the intersections with Gallows Road


Landon School’s


self-examination Unusual rash of events shakes campus


by Michael Birnbaum and Valerie Strauss


hiss of sprinklers that keep the 75-acre campus verdant even dur- ing the hottest days of summer. ¶ But the school, in one of Beth- esda’s priciest neighborhoods, has been shaken to its core in the past year by an unusual series of events.


E Parents complained about the be-


havior of a coach who allegedly told his players about his sex life and took them to Hooters. Four white students accused an African American honors student of cheating, leading to a dis- ciplinary proceeding that some Afri- can American teachers considered unfair. A group of boys was caught de- vising a game in which they would earn points based on sex acts with girls, and then a top official told an as- sembly that he knows people who don’t want their daughters “hanging out with ‘Landon guys.’ ” And for the first time, the school’s trustees decid- ed it was time to investigate a long- standing perception held by some parents and teachers that Landon treats top athletes and wealthy boys more favorably than other students. With all this, officials say what


shook them the most was the arrest of one of Landon’s former star athletes, George Huguely V, in the death of his former girlfriend at the University of Virginia. “We are still reeling from it,” said


Thomas Cunningham, chairman of Landon’s board of trustees. “That had a huge emotional impact on this com- munity and this institution. The hu- man reaction would be, ‘Could I, should I, would I have done some- thing differently, with a 15- or 16-year- old kid?’ And the answer is no.” Now the 81-year-old school is im- mersed in self-examination. It is also assessing, among other things, wheth- er the school is too accepting of teen- age misbehavior and whether it fosters troubling attitudes toward women.


landon continued on B6


On the Landon School campus are, clockwise from upper right, the lower school’s Wilson Building; Andrews House, which houses the headmaster’s office; and Buchanan Library in the Banfield Academic Center.


verything along the winding drive that leads to the Landon School for boys proclaims privilege: the emerald athletic field to the right, the 11 tennis courts to the left, the steady


and Williams Drive and hope that trace evidence from Pham’s 2008 Scion tC hatchback — a fingerprint, a drop of blood, a speck of skin or hair with DNA — can lead them to a suspect. But such testing can take time. And sources familiar with the investigation said the typical avenues of a homicide probe — retracing the victim’s steps, find- ing those who had conflicts with her —


have not produced any leads. On Wednesday, police released a flier with a photo of Pham’s car, asking anyone who saw the Scion on Sunday afternoon to contact them. Pham’s mother said she was last seen in Vienna about 2:30 p.m. Investigators theorize that Pham might have been on either Route 50 or Route 29,


stabbing continued on B5


JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON


Memories, on track A Metro malfunction derails his daydream of a carefree childhood, where a missed curfew presented a creative opportunity. B2


Region to get funds for


uninsured $207 MILLION


TO SET UP POOLS


Coverage in D.C., Md. and Va. for those considered high risk


by Darryl Fears The Obama administration will allo-


cate $207 million to the District, Mary- land and Virginia on Thursday to fund insurance pools for people who have been denied affordable medical coverage because of preexisting health problems. The money is part of a $5 billion feder-


al effort to cover Americans with serious medical conditions who have been unin- sured for at least six months. The tempo- rary high-risk insurance pools are among the first programs to operate under the health-care law signed in March and are the subject of significant partisan fight- ing on Capitol Hill. Maryland is expected to receive


$85 million to operate a high-risk pool, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services fact sheet. Virginia is slated to get $113million, and the Dis- trict, $9 million. Republicans have said the pools are


too expensive, citing a report by the non- partisan Congressional Budget Office that said the cost of operating them could balloon an additional $5 billion to $10 billion should federal officials decide to expand the $5 billion pot before the program ends in 2014. The Obama administration said the pools are needed to cover hundreds of


insurance continued on B4


Ehrlich adds ex-secretary of state to


the ticket Kane, from Montgomery, expected to help improve prospects with female voters


by John Wagner PHOTOS BY TRACY A. WOODWARD/THE WASHINGTON POST


Development around Nats park isn’t living up to its pitch


N


o fan is happier over Washington Nationals pitching sensation Stephen Strasburg than Justin Ross, owner of the only sit-down bar and restaurant in the neighborhood around the ballpark. When Strasburg pitches, the bump in


customers is worth an extra $1,500 in sales of beer, pizza and other items. That’s on top of a typical good night of $5,000 to $6,000. “It gets pretty wild in here on


Strasburg nights,” Ross said. “There’s 40,000 people going to the game, and [afterward] you can’t put them all on the Metro at one time.” Ross, who opened Justin’s Cafe on First


Street SE 11 weeks ago, thinks this is just the start. He and other investors in the changing community hope that eventual success for the Nationals will help realize the much-publicized vision of building a vibrant downtown district on the Anacostia waterfront.


ROBERT McCARTNEY They’d better be patient. I’d bet the Nats


will have their first winning season before the once-seedy neighborhood gets anywhere near completing its renaissance. The main obstacle is the same financial crisis that stalled the area’s revival in the first place. Banks are still scared to lend money so that numerous large-scale construction plans can go forward. Meanwhile, the gap between promise and reality is most dramatic on what


mccartney continued on B10


At Arlington Cemetery, Army ready for drastic measures


McHugh spoke at a hearing of the


Top official tells Congress graves will be opened if needed to clear up records


by Michael E. Ruane The secretary of the Army said


Wednesday that officials were prepared to dig up graves, open caskets and take DNA samples from the deceased if it is necessary to sort out the record-keeping chaos at Arlington National Cemetery. “If we are so authorized and if it is nec-


essary, we have not ruled out the possibil- ity of actually opening caskets,” said Army Secretary John McHugh, noting that it would be an extreme measure, “. . . and should it thereafter become neces- sary for DNA . . . that would be some- thing we would contemplate.”


House Armed Services Committee called to look into recent revelations of mis- management, mishandling of remains and extensive record foul-ups at the na- tion’s most hallowed cemetery. Aprobe by the Army inspector general,


unveiled June 10, found a wide array of long-standing problems at the cemetery. Among other problems, the Army found 211 discrepancies between burial maps and grave sites and cases in which funeral urns were inadvertently dug up and dumped in a dirt pile. McHugh said investigators already are


digging into some of the 117 sites without tombstones or burial cards that are marked as occupied on cemetery maps to see whether anyone is buried there. No names were associated with the map sites.


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Former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) reached into vote-rich Montgomery County on Wednesday night, tapping Mary D. Kane, a former Maryland secretary of state from Poto- mac, as his running mate for this year’s rematch against Gov. Martin O’Malley. Ehrlich’s choice of a lieutenant gover- nor candidate, announced in a 10 p.m. posting on Facebook, appeared aimed at improving the Republican’s prospects in the state’s largest jurisdiction and among women. Polls show Ehrlich trails the Democratic incumbent among female voters.


Ehrlich plans to introduce Kane, 48,


Thursday morning in Silver Spring, and the newly minted ticket will formally file for office Friday, aides said. In a statement Wednesday night, Ehr- lich, whose campaign has focused large- ly on jobs and the economy, promoted Kane’s business background. He said she has “a great mix of experience in govern- ment and the private sector.” Kane, well known in Maryland political circles, has worked for the U.S. Chamber of Com- merce since January 2008 as director of special projects. The choice carries at least one poten- tially significant risk: An office moving company owned by Kane’s husband, John, has been sued by the federal gov- ernment for allegedly paying its workers


ehrlich continued on B4 B DC MD VA S


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