ABCDE METRO tuesday, august 24, 2010


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69, 9 a.m. 72, noon 74, 5 p.m. 68, 9 p.m.


Obituaries Jack Horkheimer inspired millions of people to look closer at the nighttime sky with his planetarium shows and public television program, “Star Gazer.” B6


Ex-lawyer gets 5 years for bilking


his clients Montgomery judge goes beyond term guidelines to send a message


by Dan Morse A former Montgomery County mal-


practice lawyer who stole more than $1 million in client funds before he was cheated by an e-mail scam was sen- tenced to five years in prison Monday by a judge who called the case “a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.” The sentence, imposed in a hearing


that shed light on how the $385,000 e- mail scam unfolded, was longer than recommended by state guidelines. It will send Bradley Schwartz, 62, to the state prison system, widely considered harsh- er than Montgomery’s jail. Circuit Court Judge Steven G. Salant said he wanted to send a message of de- terrence. He said Schwartz, who had a longtime gambling problem and spent some of the money at Atlantic City ca- sinos, has besmirched the reputation of lawyers throughout the state. “He exploited a position of trust,” Sa- lant said. “I want to make it very clear that most of the 35,000 some-odd attor- neys in the state of Maryland are very hard-working men and women who are honest and ethical. . . . It hurts me to think that when the community, when the public, looks at us, they’re going to be looking at what the defendant did here.” Schwartz probably won’t have to serve


all five years. Maryland gives nonviolent offenders an early chance at parole, and Schwartz will be eligible within 15 months. His attorney, Thomas L. Heeney, ar- gued in court Monday for a shorter sen- tence to take into account Schwartz’s health problems, the humiliation he has felt and the fact that a state lawyers fund has repaid most of Schwartz’s victims and will repay the rest. “I suggest he be allowed to go home


today,” Heeney said. “The pound of flesh has already been extracted.” Schwartz graduated from the Univer-


sity of Maryland School of Law in 1973. His practice focused on medical mal- practice and personal injury litigation. He gained a reputation around the courthouse as a likable lawyer, said Rockville lawyers who know him. According to letters of support sent to the judge, Schwartz suffered for much of his life from depression, which over- whelmed him after the death of his wife


lawyer continued on B8 A nearly glitch-free return to school


Pr. George’s faces fewer schedule problems; most D.C. textbooks distributed


by Michael Birnbaum and Bill Turque


School resumed Monday for thou- sands of students in the Washington area, minus the back-to-school glitches that have plagued the region in recent years and with a new elementary school named after President Obama. Most Prince George’s County high school students had class schedules. A year ago, computer problems kept thou- sands out of classrooms for days. And in the District, the majority of textbooks were in schools. Three years ago, books and supplies languished in a warehouse because of a dysfunctional organization system.


But the smooth return didn’t keep worries from parents’ minds as budget cuts led to reduced services and larger classes. Parents at Barack Obama Elementary School in Prince George’s were excited to start the year in a new building, but many were worried about cutbacks. Ex- cept in pre-kindergarten and kindergar- ten, classes in the county are larger this


MARK GAIL/THE WASHINGTON POST


Third-grader Jerome Madden reads some papers as his teacher Tasha Jacques looks for more of his classmates at the new Barack Obama Elementary School.


year by an average of two students. “You kind of wonder what kind of at- tention the kids are going to get,” said parent Angela Webster of Upper Marl- boro, whose two children were starting


their first day. “We just know we’ll have to work with our children at home more.”


school continued on B5


about your problems Pothole or some other issue not getting fixed? Tell us at the Daily Gripe. Go to PostLocal.com. We’ll get answers.


MONTGOMERY


Sour notes Rising costs for Live Nation’s Silver Spring project are coming out of taxpayers’ pockets. Some council members wonder whether funds could be put to better use. B4


TRANSPORTATION


Military may take to the rails The Virginia Railway Express Operations Board has given the commuter system’s officials permission to sell railcars and locomotives to the Army, which is looking for ways to move its personnel between bases. B4


Maryland guidelines disqualify petition


SIGNATURES REJECTED


Firefighters’ ambulance fee initiative won’t make ballot


by Rick Rojas Whether petitions filed in Maryland JAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST Donna Barnes, a retired school bus driver, stands on family land in Tysons Corner that she and her siblings inherited.


Watching a windfall drop by the wayside


A $1.2 million offer for family’s land in Tysons Corner collapses


commuter-rail officials by Kafia A. Hosh


D


onna Barnes, a retired school bus driver, lives a modest life with her hus- band in a rented brick town- house.


The couple get by mostly on her pen- sion and his Social Security benefits. But about 55 miles north of her home in Fredericksburg, Barnes is sitting on a possible windfall. She might be cash poor, but she is land rich — and won- ders whether her family will ever ben- efit.


Barnes, 56, and her two siblings in- herited an acre in Tysons Corner, one of the nation’s most successful busi- ness districts. Tysons is expected to prosper even more as the site of four stops along a Metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport. The Fair- fax County Board of Supervisors re- cently approved areas closest to the stations for more dense development, and Barnes’s property is less than a


mile from one of the future stops, scheduled to open in 2013. The land, which once included more


than seven acres, has been in Barnes’s family since the early 1900s. They were one of a few black families who lived in Tysons when it was a rural crossroads of dairy farms. Barnes grew up on the property and raised her two children there.


Barnes still hopes to sell the land.


“I was excited. I thought it was going to be a solid deal.”


— Donna Barnes, about the time five years ago when a developer offered $1.2 million for land she and her siblings inherited.


About five years ago, her brother called with promising news: A devel- oper was offering them $1.2 million for their land, which lies between a neigh- borhood and public parkland. Barnes instantly thought about what she would do with her share — put a down payment on a new house, buy her hus- band a Ford pickup and stash some money away for their adult children. “I was excited,” Barnes said. “I thought it was going to be a solid deal.” The house, which had many plumb- ing problems, was a burden, and Barnes said she wanted “a new start.” She and her husband moved, buying a


tysons continued on B5 petition continued on B8


Final weeks of D.C. mayor’s race more like speed dating than courtship


Desperate, the-entire-posse-is-piled- in-the-car-hitting-on-anything-that- breathes, junior year of high school Saturday night, that is. In the nation’s capital, we have some dudes who are cruising the city, frantically looking to seal the deal on primary day. They are party-hopping, or changing their looks, cracking jokes, making promises, apologizing, dissing each other, strutting, dancing, cajoling, begging. And it’s not so much that they really want to know how you’re feeling or what your thoughts and dreams, hopes and fears are. They simply want you to give it up for them. Now.


I “So, can I count on your support?”


Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) asks folks as he knocks on doors at dinnertime, in between his events and on weekends. People tell me they feel cornered by his visits, that the ding-dong drop-ins are yes or no questions, not chats. “Where’s the conversation? The discourse? The debate?” they wonder. The big man on campus just wants to know if you’re in or out. He doesn’t have time for romance.


t’s feeling pretty Saturday night out there, on the D.C. mayoral campaign trail.


PETULA DVORAK And then there’s the old-school


gentleman, who is trying hard to woo you but struggling to do it in BlackBerry time. “It’s dead over here,” a campaign


staffer for D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) decided one weekend afternoon, while hopscotching from one event to another, texting on which party was hot, which wasn’t. All the while, trying hard to keep Gray moving on, moving along. It isn’t easy for them to run him at


triathlete speed. Quick-hit is not his style. “He wants to talk to all of them.


Every. Single. Person,” a Gray volunteer complained to me. Admit it, it’s been pretty fun watching


this mayoral campaign, hasn’t it? It so easily could have been ho-hum, a


dvorak continued on B5


make it to a vote can hinge on a small de- tail, such as a forgotten initial. Guidelines imposed after a court rul- ing last year have led election officials to scrutinize how names are signed on the dotted line. If the person doesn’t include a surname, completely spell another name and then add any middle initials, the signature is disqualified. And that’s why the issue of fees for ambulance rides in Montgomery County won’t go before voters in November, al- though more than 50,000 signatures were gathered in support of a ballot ini- tiative. The group behind the petition, the


county Volunteer Fire and Rescue Asso- ciation, said it submitted about 30,000 signatures by the Aug. 4 deadline. But according to the Board of Elections, only 13,021 of those signatures were valid. The group needed 15,366 valid signa- tures to proceed, said Kevin Karpinski, counsel for the board. The volunteer firefighters’ group handed over almost 20,000 more signa- tures by the Aug. 19 deadline for the sec- ond half of the petition, but because it failed to meet the first benchmark for signatures, the petition is moot, Karpin- ski said. To get an initiative on a ballot, peti- tioners must turn in half of the signa- tures required within 75 days after a bill takes effect. The other half must be turned in 15 days later. Calls to the firefighters’ group about their plans following the rejection Mon- day were not returned.


Although there were other reasons


that signatures were rejected — some people didn’t sign at all or signed with an illegible mark — most were rejected because they did not follow the new guidelines, Karpinski said. In effect, the guidelines require voters to remember how they wrote their names when they registered to vote. Karpinski, for example, registered as


B DC MD VA S


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