C6
EZ SU
KLMNO Metrobus workers vie for bragging rights
At annual Roadeo, drivers and mechanics put skills to the test
BY KEITH L. ALEXANDER Robert Wills checks his large
side viewmirrors, taps the horn a couple of times and then strug- gles to turns theMetrobus’s over- sized steering wheel in hopes of backing up between a dozen or so orange cones without touch- ing any. The driver before Willis
backed over five cones and kept going until one of the judges banged on the window to alert the driver to stop. Across the parking lot, Metro-
bus mechanics Johnny DeLaRo- sa, Shah Raufi and Donnell Har- rod have 10 minutes to find 14 defects in an idle bus parked on the lot. To some onlookers, with mu-
sic, the smell of barbecue, and free sodas and popcorn, and about 300 or so Metro workers and their families, it looked like an employee cookout Saturday. But for these Metrobus workers,
it’s more than a cookout, it’s a motorized rodeo. In fact, it’s the annual Metro Roadeo at Metro’s main training facility in Landover. Some of Metro’s most sea-
soned bus drivers andmechanics vie for bragging rights, as well as a trophy, a diamond chip ring, and the chance to get behind the wheel atRichard Petty’sNASCAR driving course in Richmond. It’s an opportunity for the
workers to show what they can do at a time when some of the most dominant news aboutMet- ro these days has to do with accidents, fare hikes or service issues. “It’s a different kind of em-
ployee appreciation day,” says Jimmy Forcade, who oversees Metro’s maintenance training department. “It’s a day when our best employees come together and show off their skills and try to win this.” Not all Metrobus employees
can qualify for the competition. Workers must have an accident- free record for a year prior to the Roadeo. They cannot have any suspensions or have missed four consecutive dayswith unexcused absences.
The event is broken down into
two main competitions, one for mechanics and the other for bus operators. The mechanics were given six modules that they had to troubleshoot, including a faulty air conditioner, engine and transmission, often in less than 10minutes permodule. Mechanic teams — 18 this
year, up from seven in 2009 — were made up of three Metro workers. Some 40 drivers tried the course, down from about 50 last year. As drivers navigated through
cones and barrels, relatives, friends and co-workers cheered from the sidelines as each driv- er’s name, tenure at Metro and number of miles driven without an accident were announced by loudspeaker. Metrobus employs 975 me-
chanics and about 1,500 drivers. One of Metro’s biggest challeng- es, employees say, ismaintaining a seasoned staff. More than half of Metro’s workforce has fewer than six years’ experience with the company. In 2000, amajority of workers
who joined Metro in the 1970s began retiring after 27 or so years with the company.
“That’s where all the experi-
ence went,” says Jimmy Col- clough, assistant supervisor of bus training, who has been with Metro for 22 years. The Roadeo was started in
1979 as a competition between Metrobus operators and me- chanics inWashington and their counterparts in Baltimore. Simi- lar events among union workers are held in cities throughout the country. A national competition will be inMemphis next spring. AsWillis pulled the bus to the
final stop and completed the race, he figured he had not won the competition, mainly because of trouble trying to navigate a sharp 90-degree turn. ButWillis, 47,who has three years on the job and 2,000 miles with no acci- dents, says he plans to try the competition again next year. “I think I did good, but I can do better,” he said. DeLaRosa, Raufi and Harrod,
who in their regular Metro jobs work on maintaining fareboxes, had 10minutes to find 14 defects on a bus in the parking lot. Themen grabbed their gloves,
pulled out their flashlights and clipboards and raced to the bus. One boarded the bus to examine
the passenger and driver seat, fare box,windshieldwipers, turn signals, lights and other equip- ment. A second team member checked out the front of the bus, the door, headlights, tires and side panels,while the thirdmem- ber checked out the engine — which is located on the back of the bus — radiator and other parts. At times, the members were
tripping over each other as they checked one another’s work. “Go to your side, man, I got this,” Raufi said toDeLaRosa,who had moved frombehind the bus. “Two minutes left,” one of the
judges shouted. “Oh, [expletive],” Raufi said. The teamfound four out of the
14 defects,whichwas about aver- age of the teams for the day. By early afternoon, only one team had found all 14. The winners were William Morgan, Locksly McKenzie and Truck Hoang. The winning driver was Joseph Baze- more. “It was still fun. We learned a
lot. It was our first time, and we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare,” Harrod said. “We’ll do better next year.”
alexanderk@washpost.com
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2010 ROBERTMCCARTNEY
group pushes for area
cooperation mccartney from C1
traffic problems. The 2030 Group leans toward
more roads. An academic study that it commissioned faults the region for failing to follow through on past plans to build new roads parallel to the Belt- way and to add bridges across the Potomac. “Twenty-five years ago, roads
had been put in anticipating growth. In the next 20 years, our growth is going to double again, but we don’t have the infra- structure to handle it,” Buchan- an said. The group’s toughest critics
saymore roads are just a recipe for endlessmiles of clogged highways linking ugly strip malls and residential projects. They want to focus instead on transit-oriented development, also known as smart growth, whichmeans building dense, walkable communities clustered aroundMetro stations. That’s themodel recommended overall in COG’s blueprint for the area’s future, called Region Forward. “Our council of governments,
like other regions, has recog- nized that . . . land use, urban design and the jobs-housing bal- ance play the greatest role in ad- dressing our travel congestion. It’s not just about building proj- ects,” said Stewart Schwartz, ex- ecutive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. He partici- pated in theMonday workshop but stressed that “shouldn’t be seen asmy endorsement of the 2030 Group.” Buchanan said he’d like the
region to raisemoremoney for Metro as well as roads. But he said current plans don’t provide for anywhere near enough den- sity aroundMetro stations to absorb all the new residents. Plus, he said,moremoney is needed to improve transporta- tion in outer suburbs and other areas not served by transit. “Nobody’s advocatingmore
uncontrolled sprawl, but you’re going to get it if you can’t pro- videmore density where people are going to be working and shopping,” he said. I favor having asmuch smart
growth as we can reasonably achieve, but I recognize we need to pour some asphalt, too. New roads and bridges are fine with me if it’s proved they’ll reduce traffic or are themost effective way to deal with the swelling population. In any case, it’s aboutmore
GERALD MARTINEAU FOR THE WASHINGTON POST ArlingtonNational Cemetery is using ground-penetrating radar to check targeted areas for the presence of remains.
Extended review at Arlington hasn’t resolved problems in identifying mistakes
Cemetery officials cite some progress
BY CHRISTIAN DAVENPORT Arlington National Cemetery
officials said they are making progress in rectifying the prob- lems with more than 200 grave- sites identified in an Army In- spector General’s report by veri- fying paperwork, using ground- penetrating radar and, in a few cases, digging up graves with a backhoe. But although it has been four
months since the report was re- leased, many of the record-keep- ing issues remain unresolved, the full scope of the problems at the nation’s premier military ceme- tery is unknown and the ceme- tery’s leadership cannot say how long it will take to fix the situa- tion. In a statement, Kathryn Con-
don, the newly appointed execu- tivedirector of theArmyNational Cemeteries Program, said ceme-
tery officials “are working dili- gently each and every day to correct the mistakes made in the past and restore the dignity and honor our nation’s heroes de- serve.” The IG report, released in
June, detailed a chaotic manage- ment system at the cemetery, poor record-keeping and discrep- ancies between burial maps and what is actually in place. Investigators found that 117
gravesites without headstones weremarkedas occupiedoncem- eterymaps; 94 others,withcorre- sponding headstones, were marked as empty on themaps. The graves with headstones
have beeneasier to verify because officials can use the name to pull the paperwork, which consists of a record of interment, a gravesite card that details where in the cemetery the deceased is buried, and an intake form used for scheduling funerals. In all 94 cases, the paperwork has verified that the right people are in the correct burial plots, spokeswom- an Kaitlin Horst said Friday eve- ning in the cemetery’smost com- prehensive update so far.
But given the widespread
problems with the cemetery’s re- cord-keeping system — it still uses paper records despite mil- lions of dollars spent to go digital — the cemetery also has been using ground-penetrating radar. The radar could help verify that a set of remains is present, but it will not help with identification. Army Secretary John McHugh
has said that officials are pre- pared to dig up graves, open coffins and take DNA samples from the deceased if it is neces- sary to sort out the records. To do that, Army regulations require a court order or consent from “all close relatives.” Cemetery officials have not
been able to find records indicat- ing that people are buried in the 117 plots that the maps say are occupied but have no headstone. Officials have opened five of
those graves. In all five cases, the sites were empty, Horst said. The cemetery will continue to open those graves, and if they are vacant, officials will use themfor future burials. The problems detailed in the IG report were from three of the
cemetery’s 70 sections. Investiga- tors could find many more prob- lems as they widen their probe beyond sections 59, 65 and 66, officials have said. In August, cemetery officials
discovered that one gravesite in Section 66 was vacant even thoughithadaheadstone, anoth- er had the wrong body in it and a third had two sets of remains, only one of which matched the headstone.
Not convinced Cemetery officials opened the
graves after the wife of an Army staff sergeant became concerned that his remains were in the wrong place.Theman’s gravewas not among the 211 the IG investi- gators had flagged. Cemetery officials had thought
that the paperwork was in order, and because of that they assured the woman that her husband’s bodywas inthe correct grave. She was not convinced, however, and asked them to dig. When they opened the grave, they found the remains of someone else. On Friday,Horst said that cem- etery officials reviewed burial
than transportation. Stronger regional economic planning would help narrow the gap be- tween the western half of the area and the less prosperous eastern one. The 2030 Group also wants the region to do more to set common education standards so businesses get bet- ter-qualified workers. It’s too early to say what form
records and thought the staff sergeant could have been buried in another section. When they opened that grave, they found a wooden coffin, which could not have belonged to the staff ser- geant because his wasmetal. They then checked the grave-
site next to the onemarked by the staff sergeant’s headstone. There, they found two sets of remains: the staff sergeant’s and, above his coffin, an urn containing the remains of the wife of a retired Navy commander. Since the IG report was re-
leased, two other families with relatives whose ashes were placed in the columbarium have asked that the niches be opened, Horst said. In both cases, the remainswere inthe correctplace. Another family expressed con-
cernthat anurnwas buried at the wrong depth.When cemetery of- ficials checked, they found that the urn was two feet down in- stead of three.The urnwas rebur- ied at the correct depth, Horst said. She did not say why the family had suspected a problem.
davenportc@washpost.com
stronger regional governance should take. One proposal is just to give
COGmore authority. The work- shop also considered creating a “regional charter council,” with “predictable funding streams for implementing critical ac- tion.” But practical details were sketchy about how such coun- cils would be selected, raise money and function relative to existing local governments. Jacques Gansler, a University
ofMaryland public policy pro- fessor who advises the 2030 Group, said the primary goal was to achieve a cultural change. “We’re really trying to get people to thinkmore region- ally,” he said. We could all benefit from
that.
mccartneyr@washpost.com New area
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