THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2010


KLMNO D.C. youth jobs program has fewer payday glitches


City probing complaints of 74 participants, out of total 18,400 workers


by Stephanie Lee The first full payday of the Dis-


trict’s historically rocky Summer Youth Employment Program went smoothly overall, although not without some glitches, city officials said. In contrast with previous years, the majority of the more than 18,000 youths working in businesses, nonprofit organiza- tions and city agencies across the District were paid in full and on time, said John A. Stokes, a


spokesman for the Department of Parks and Recreation. Yet some employees were not paid correctly, city officials said. According to City Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At Large), more than 120 employees of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s Con- servation Corps, a program dedi- cated to cleaning up trash and graffiti in the city, were not paid on time. Mafara Hobson, a spokeswom- an for Fenty (D), said that 24 Conservation Corps supervisors claimed on Wednesday that they had pay issues. Stokes said city officials are investigating the complaints of 74 employees, of more than 18,400 total partici- pants, who said they were not paid correctly.


“This has been the lowest amount of payroll situations in the history of the program.”


— John A. Stokes, spokesman for D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation “Whatever the situations are


that we have to resolve, this has been the lowest amount of pay- roll situations in the history of the program,” Stokes said, citing onsite managers and a stream- lined payroll system as the main reasons for the improvements. The program got off to a rocky


start in June, when about 700 youths attempted to change their work sites. Some said they were turned away from their assigned workplaces after being told the


sites had too many employees. The program, for D.C. youths


ages 14 to 21, began in 1979 under Mayor Marion Barry (D). It came under fire in 2008 when it ex- ceeded its budget by more than $30 million and paid some youths who did not work or were ineligible for the program, in- cluding 200 who were not D.C. residents.


lees@washpost.com


S OBITUARIES


B5


Chance encounter led to slaying, authorities say slaying from B1


and knew Naimi, was ordered held without bond Wednesday. Detectives said he admitted to the slaying, and they charged him with first-degree murder. Detectives don’t know why he killed her, a police spokeswoman said Wednesday evening. Williams didn’t speak during his bond hearing, and the lawyer appointed to represent him for the proceeding did not present his version of what happened. Friends and family said Naimi


spoke six languages and studied in Europe. She gave money, food and blankets to homeless people near her home and studio, and she donated much of her earn- ings from her profession to prominent causes, including Haiti relief. “Pocketing money was not in her realm,” said Tony Kurtz, who


leased the studio to Naimi and hired her to restore paintings as part of his art company. “Azin was driven by goodness.” Kurtz also knows Williams, who worked for him. He called him good-natured and was at a loss to explain what happened. “This is the last thing I’d ex-


pect from him,” he said. According to an arrest affida- vit, signed by Detective Dimitry Ruvin, investigators built their case by tracking Naimi’s final movements, reviewing video sur- veillance and looking at Wil- liams’s cellphone records. Naimi was last seen leaving her residence at 7:15 p.m. Sun- day. Sixteen minutes later, sur- veillance video from outside her studio showed her walking toward her office door, according to the affidavit. “At that point in time, the vic- tim was alone and everything ap-


peared fine,” Ruvin wrote. The small studio is just off a


large room — called the Band Kamp — which hosts jam ses- sions of amateur and semi-pro- fessional musicians. In one corner of the room is a


stage, with conga drums, guitars and other instruments. Paintings hang throughout. There are so- fas, a pool table, ping-pong table, air hockey table and seats taken from a speedboat. Detectives think Williams killed Naimi in the large room, according to court documents and law enforcement sources who spoke on condition that they not be named because they are not authorized to discuss the case. Williams provided no clear motive, but he said he had been drinking before Naimi’s arrival, according to the sources. In court Wednesday, Chaikin said Williams used a mop and


towels to try to clean up the blood. But forensic technicians used a chemical to reveal blood evidence. Blood also was found inside the SUV that Williams was driving, Chaikin said. The sur- veillance video shows the SUV pulling away, according to the af- fidavit.


Williams’s phone records in-


dicated that at 11:01 p.m. Sunday, he called a residence in the 800 block of Farragut Street NW, near where Naimi’s body was found. On Tuesday, detectives arrest- ed Williams in Gaithersburg and took him to police headquarters. “He confessed to killing Naimi by stabbing her with scissors,” Ruvin wrote. “Williams also ad- mitted to transporting the body to” the District. morsed@washpost.com


CRAIG HERNDON/THE WASHINGTON POST


Enrollment tripled at D.C. Teachers College in Paul Cooke’s tenure. PAUL P. COOKE, 93


Educator guided Teachers College to new heights


by Emma Brown Paul P. Cooke, 93, a Washington


Passenger describes ‘free fall’ when flight from Dulles hit turbulence turbulence from B1


paramedic division, said 21 pa- tients were taken to hospitals with “minor to moderate inju- ries.” Mike Trevino, a United Air- lines spokesman, said four of the injured were flight attendants, part of a 10-member flight crew. Dee Martinez, a spokeswoman for Denver Health Medical Cen- ter, said the hospital treated and released seven patients, who had “moderate head, neck and back injuries.” Melissa Vizcarra, a spokes- woman for Children’s Hospital in Aurora, said that facility treated and released one 12-year-old pa- tient. Atwood said one woman ap- peared to have “hit her head pret- ty hard” and looked “severely hurt” when she was taken off the aircraft.


Flight 967, a twin-engine Boe-


ing 777 , which was scheduled to leave Dulles at 5:25 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, landed in Denver about 7:30 p.m. Mountain Day- light Time. The NTSB reported that the flight encountered “se- vere turbulence” at 6:14 p.m. MDT while traveling at 34,000 feet. Trevino said a line of strong thunderstorms extended from the middle of Missouri through the middle of Kansas on Tuesday evening. Thunderstorms, with updrafts of up to 100 mph, can cause bumpy rides for airplanes as they pass from an area of calm air to churning air, much like a speedboat hitting choppy waters, said Chad Gimmestad, a weather service meteorologist in Boulder. In February, more than 20 peo- ple were hurt when a United flight with 263 people onboard experienced turbulence halfway through a 13-hour trip from Dul- les to Tokyo.


educator and civil rights activist who was credited with reinvigo- rating the D.C. Teachers College during his tenure as president in the 1960s and 1970s, died July 4 of kidney failure at his home in Washington. D.C. Teachers College was a ra- cially integrated school created in 1955 with the merger of Miner Teachers College (for black stu- dents) and Wilson Teachers Col- lege (for whites). Before Dr. Cooke took the helm in 1966, enrollment had stagnated and the school, which trained a quarter of the city’s public school teachers, had lost its national accreditation. Dr. Cooke, who had taught in


the city’s public schools and served as a professor of English at Miner, saw teacher training as a way to revolutionize failing schools long before that became fashionable in education reform circles.


During his eight-year tenure at


D.C. Teachers College, enrollment tripled and the school began tak- ing on an expanded role in the community, sponsoring street pa- trols to ensure residents’ safety and operating a youth recreation program. The college regained its accred-


KAOMA BECHAZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS A passenger snapped this photo showing the crack in the cabin wall where a woman hit her head.


The plane jumped, then plummeted “like in an elevator shaft,” passenger Deborah Atwood said. People were flying out of their seats.


In May, 10 people suffered in- juries, including broken bones, on aUnited flight that hit severe tur- bulence over the Atlantic Ocean on its way from London to Los Angeles. The Boeing 777 was di- verted to Montreal. A spokesman for United Air- lines said the crew Tuesday night “put safety first” and immediately


diverted the flight to Denver so injured passengers could be treat- ed. The flight continued to Los Angeles International Airport about 9:30 p.m. MDT Tuesday with a new plane and crew. It was not clear whether all pas-


sengers were wearing seat belts at the time of the incident. Atwood said the pilot had told passengers


to buckle their seat belts when the flight started to get a little shaky. Officials said that the plane was


inspected in Denver on Tuesday night and that there was no sign of external damage. Federal au- thorities said initial reports found minor damage to the interior of the cabin. Atwood is scheduled to fly home Friday. “Amtrak is looking mighty good to me right now,” she said with a slight chuckle. wigginsovetta@washpost.com


Staff writer Martin Weil and the Associated Press contributed to this report.


Federal prosecutors revive case, indict 3 in N.Va. gold burglaries gold from B1


N.Y., was arrested there Monday. Soto’s estranged husband, Dago- berto Soto Ramirez, 27, is in the Fairfax jail and is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday on charges of burglary and possession of burglary tools, for which a jury recommended a year’s impris- onment. He has been in custody for more than eight months. Court records in New York re- veal that the third defendant, Francisco Gray, 39, was deported, and sources familiar with the case said he was sent to Peru. It’s not clear how or when he might be returned to Northern Virginia. The victims in the case said


they were thrilled to learn that the case had been revived, al- though there was no indication that any of their stolen property had been found.


“That’s wonderful news,” said Raman Kumar, whose house was burglarized and who attended many of the hearings in Fairfax. “We were a little bit worried they were all going to go free. This is really, really big news.” The conspiracy indictment provides new details about the burglaries but does not indicate that alleged co-conspirators have cooperated or that any physical evidence has been found. The indictment says that Gray, the Sotos and their co-conspira- tors stayed at the Comfort Inn Landmark on Duke Street in Al- exandria at least six times, and that is where Fairfax detectives found lists of addresses, a gold- testing kit and a list of Fairfax po- lice radio frequencies. The indictment alleges that


Gray and the Sotos targeted “resi- dences occupied by persons with


Asian or South Asian-appearing or sounding last names,” that they knocked on doors to deter- mine whether anyone was home and that they then called the homes using prepaid cellphones. Records show the defendants called 13 burglarized residences in Fairfax and Loudoun, the in- dictment says, apparently to dou- ble-check that no one was home. New details include that Soto Ramirez allegedly bought a Glob- al Positioning System unit in Bal- timore that contained “Recent Locations” entries from the same streets and areas as some of the burglaries. The indictment also alleges that a screwdriver found at the Comfort Inn was used to burglarize four homes in Fairfax, although it is not clear how that link was made. Lawyer Harold N. Ward Jr., who represented Gray, said he


did not know that Gray had been deported. Bobby B. Stafford, who represented Soto Ramirez, de- clined to comment. Jad N. Sar- sour, who represented Melinda Soto, said it might be hard to prove a conspiracy when a hus- band and wife are two of the al- leged participants and probably wouldn’t testify against each oth- er.


Fairfax Commonwealth’s At-


torney Raymond F. Morrogh, who had asked federal prosecu- tors to take the case, said the U.S. attorney’s office in Alexandria “has a long and distinguished history of helping local law en- forcement in cases which have multistate implications, and the public is well served by it. To paraphrase an old saying, ‘We may not be there yet, but we’re closer than we were yesterday.’ ” jackmant@washpost.com


itation, and Dr. Cooke hired a part-time publicist to help raise its profile. Dr. Cooke left D.C. Teachers College in 1974, just be- fore it was absorbed into the Uni- versity of the District of Colum- bia.


“He was a trailblazer in educa- tion for black people,” said D.C. councilman and former mayor Marion Barry in an interview Wednesday. “He led the effort to train thousands of black teachers. . . . He’s just the kind of person that you want to have hundreds of because of the work he did.” A graduate of the District’s ra- cially segregated public schools, Dr. Cooke was an enduring voice in Washington for civil rights and racial equality. In 1948, when he was teaching English at Miner, he and col- leagues held protests at local theaters that forbade African Americans from sitting in the au- dience. The following year, he sat on a biracial citizens commission tasked with improving race rela- tions in Washington. In the early 1950s, he was part of a group of black educators and lawyers who successfully fought to ensure that deaf African Amer- ican students could — like their white peers — receive a public education in the District, rather than being sent to a school in Maryland. Dr. Cooke also served as the lo- cal and national chairman of the American Veterans Committee, a veterans’ organization that ad- vocated racial equality. With that organization, he pressed for an end to housing discrimination in the early 1960s and was invited to serve as a pallbearer in the funer- al for Medgar Evers, a black civil rights activist who was killed by a segregationist in 1963. That year, nearly a decade after


the U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education had deemed segregation unconstitu-


tional in public schools, housing patterns in Washington meant that its schools were still separat- ed by race. He said at the time that he sup-


ported busing children outside their neighborhoods to speed in- tegration. “To expect any real crack in housing discrimination in the next decade,” he said, “is impracti- cal.” Paul Phillips Cooke was born


June 29, 1917, in the New York neighborhood of Harlem and grew up in Washington. His grandfather and father sold milk and bread to zookeepers at the Smithsonian who kept animals such as tigers as live models for the museum’s taxidermists. He graduated in 1933 from Dunbar High School, where he was the first baseman on the var- sity baseball team, and in 1937 from Miner. He received two master’s de- grees, one in education from New York University and another in English language and literature from Catholic University. He re- ceived a doctorate in education from Columbia University in 1947. Dr. Cooke joined the Miner fac-


ulty in 1944, interrupting his ten- ure there to serve in the Army Air Forces from 1945 to 1946 and in the 1960s to lead an experimental inner-city school program that was part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. After retiring in 1974, Dr. Cooke wrote and spoke widely about the history of Washington. He was the director of international pro- grams for the American Associa- tion of State Colleges and Uni- versities and served as a consul- tant to Howard University, the University of the District of Co- lumbia, the Anacostia Neighbor- hood Museum and the World Peace Through Law Center, a Washington-based nonprofit or- ganization that did work around the world with USAID grants. He was a parishioner at Sacred


Heart Catholic Church in Wash- ington and a member of the Catholic Interracial Council, the Cosmos Club and the local chap- ter of the Kappa Alpha Psi fra- ternity. He was inducted into the D.C. Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2003, tragedy struck Dr.


Cooke’s family. His son and daughter-in-law, Paul and Marga- ret Cooke, were fatally shot by their son, Joshua Cooke, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Dr. Cooke’s wife of 63 years,


Rose Clifford Cooke, also died in 2003. Their daughter Kelsey C. Meyersburg died in 1997. Survivors include two daugh- ters, Anne E. Cooke and Kather- ine Cooke Mundle, both of Wash- ington; a granddaughter; and two great-grandchildren. Dr. Cooke’s students at Miner said he was a warm and ap- proachable professor who was known on campus for putting on plays and emphasizing personal relationships with those he taught. “You could feel comfortable in his presence,” said Lawrence E. Graves, a Washington native who graduated from Miner and went on to a 32-year career in D.C. pub- lic schools. “We loved him.” browne@washpost.com


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