ARTS THE GREATEST HITS OF 2010 AND ...


SPORTS Goodbye, Gilbert


Talented yet controversial guard is traded to Orlando Magic in a day of blockbuster NBA trades.


ABCDE Partly sunny 36/23 • Tomorrow: Partly sunny 36/24 • details, c10 SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2010


The horse track’s owners want to shorten the racing schedule for next year, and its workers worry that their part in a centuries-old Maryland tradition may have reached the finish line.


ON GAYS TO END Implementing policy


is expected to take time BY ED O’KEEFE


The U.S. military will for the


first time in history allow gays to serve openly after the Senate vot- ed Saturday to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the policy that has required such troops to hide their sexual identity or risk being ex- pelled from the services. While opponents said repeal


MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST As a horse heads to the gate, very fewfans are on hand for Laurel Park’s last day of racing this year.Workers fear theremay never be another.


At Laurel Park, a way of life limps toward the sunset


He has hundreds of these — BY THERESA VARGAS I S


na roomthe size of a storage unit, where the closets have nodoorsandthekitchenand bathroom sinks share a counter, life’svictoriesmight


seemlimited. But there they are — on the


wall, in a box, in a photo album John Collins flips through. The first picture is from1969. He was 16 andhad just startedworking at racetracks.Thehorse,ReelyBeeg, came in first, and there is Collins in the winner’s circle, smiling un- der his floppy blond hair.


victory photos that turned over time fromblack-and-white to dig- ital color as his hair faded to gray, snapshots of the highs that have kept Collins, 58, working with horses for more than four de- cades. Now, he worries that his course has reached its end and that he will lose the tiny roomhe shares with his fiancee, Tricia, behind the Laurel Park racetrack. Saturday was the last day of


racing at Laurel this year, and thosewhoworkandlivetherefear that itmay be the last day ever.An industry that has been ailing in Maryland for years appears as


close as ever to death. “I never dreamed in a million


years there wouldn’t be racing in Maryland,”Collins says.Herecalls when the horses drewcrowds.He knows peoplewho loved the sport somuch that they had their ashes scattered on the track. Now, he worries, “you might wake up and there’d be a chain on the gate saying: ‘That’s it. Party’s over. No racing.’ ” At itsmost recentmeeting, the


Maryland Racing Commission unanimously rejectedplansbyMI Developments and PennNational Gaming — which, operating as Maryland Jockey Club, jointly


Hers is no common story But KateMiddleton’s humble ancestry has stirred Britons’ old class divide


BY ANTHONY FAIOLA IN LONDON


ince the royal engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton was announced,


oneword describing the bride-to- be has stood out more than any other. She may be beautiful, graceful and fabulously rich, but Middleton is still a “commoner.” Technically, the label fits. The


28-year-old daughter of former airline workers made good is not of noble blood and, hence, is con- sideredacommoner intheBritish tradition of class distinction. Yet the wide use of such an archaic and, to some, pejorative term is igniting a heated debate here aboutpedigreeandstatus inmod- ernBritain. Royalwatchers and the British


media are not mincing words about the humble lineage of “Commoner Kate.” “From pit to palace,” declared London’s Daily Mail, noting her great-great- grandfather’sdaysasacoalminer. “I’m not against the middle class as such, but I do query whether she has the background and breeding to be queen one day,” wrote James Whitaker, a guru of royal gossip. The Guardian, the Times of London, the Telegraph and the venerable BBC, among others, have all seen fit to dub her a “commoner.” As accurate as the termmay be,


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EDDIE KEOGH/REUTERS


KateMiddleton, seen with now-fiance Prince William in 2007, is the great-great-granddaughter of a coal miner.


others here are wincing at the notion that a young woman whose family’s self-made fortune is larger thanmany in the landed gentryisbeingsostronglydefined in 21st-century Britain by her bloodline. It shows, observers say, that despite the rise ofmega-rich commoners such as Richard Branson and J.K. Rowling, this is


CLASSIFIEDS.....................K1 COMICS......................INSERT EDITORIALS/LETTERS.....A20


LOTTERIES.........................C4 OUTLOOK...........................B1 OBITUARIES....................C7-9


still very much a society where status is measured in birthright and breeding. “It’s quite depressing, this


word, like we’re going back to a 19th-century theme-park Britain, to an age of deference to themon- archy,” saidEveningStandardcol-


commoner continued onA14


STOCKS..........................G6-8 TRAVEL..............................F1 WORLD NEWS.............A10-18


ownLaurelandBaltimore’sPimli- co track—to dramatically reduce the racing schedule next year. Commissioners said such a short schedulewouldineffect killhorse racing in Maryland, along with thousands of jobs that depend on it.


Penn National spokesman Eric


Schippers said that theMaryland tracks lost$7millionlast year and that the shortened schedule was an attempt to restore profitability without slotmachines. Voters ap- proved a plan lastmonth to oper- ate slot machines at the Arundel


laurel continued onA6


would create a battlefield distrac- tion that could endanger troops, supporters drew parallels to the military’s decision to end racial segregation in the 1950s and the admission of women to military service academies in the 1970s. “This is the defining civil rights


initiative of this decade,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal De- fense Network. “Congress has taken an extraordinary step on behalf of men and women who’ve been denied their rightful integri- ty for too long.” For decades, being gay was


groundsfor discharge,andtens of thousands of service members were forced out after their sexual identities were exposed. Presi- dent Bill Clinton, who had hoped to end that ban, authorized “don’t ask” as a compromise in 1993. More than 13,000 troops have been discharged under the policy. The years-long legislative de-


bate over the policy came to an end Saturday as senators voted 65 to 31 to send the repeal legislation to President Obama, who cam- paigned on a pledge to eliminate the ban on gays serving openly. Eight Republicans joined 57 members of the Democratic cau-


CAPITOLASSETS Senate panel ban seen as double standard


Appointees can’t own defense-related stock, but lawmakers can


BY SCOTTHIGHAM, KIMBERLY KINDY AND DAN KEATING


Gordon R. England’s appoint-


ment to a top Pentagon post in 2006 came at a high price. The Senate committee overseeing his confirmation demanded that he give up lucrative stocks and op- tionsheheldincompanies thatdo businesswiththemilitary. England said he took a big hit


on his taxes and lost out onmore than$1millioninpotentialprofits


that year when he divested him- self of interests in companies that includedGeneralDynamics. If he had been a senator, he


would not have had to sell any- thing. The Senate Armed Services


Committee prohibits its staff and presidential appointees requiring Senate confirmationfromowning stocks or bonds in 48,096 compa- nies that have Defense Depart- ment contracts. But the senators whositontheinfluentialpanelare allowed to own any assets they want. And they have owned millions


ininterests inthese firms. The committee’s prohibition is


designed to prevent high-ranking Pentagon officials from using in- side information to enrich them-


INSIDE THEWORLD


Partial Iraqi cabinet Positions expected soon as ban on three Sunnis is lifted. A10


METRO


What’s up on the Hill? District residents wary of the changing of the guard. C1


EDITORIAL


Obama’s long-termapproach to Afghanwar looks promising.A20


Printed using recycled fiber


DAILY CODE Details, C2


8 0 1 1 2SPORTS Friedgen out as


Maryland coach The university has informed alumnus Ralph Friedgen that his 10-year tenure as head football coach is over and has asked him to accept a buyout. D1


Redskins vs. Dallas 


Rex Grossman gives coaches a chance to evaluate roster. D1


The Washington Post Year 134, No. 14


CONTENT © 2010


selves ormembers of their imme- diate family. Butpanelmembershave access


tomuch of the same inside infor- mation, because they receive clas- sifiedbriefings fromhigh-ranking defense officials aboutpolicy, con- tractsandplans for combat strate- gies andweapons systems. “I thinkCongress shouldliveby


the rules they impose on other people,” saidEngland,who served as deputy defense secretary under George W. Bush until 2009. He said hewillingly divested in order to serve his country. “I amfrankly surprisedthey are allowedtohave these investments. Everymember of this committeehas tremendous influence over every major con-


conflict continued onA2


OUTLOOK ... THE WORST YEAR IN WASHINGTON


Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington.


washingtonpost.com • $2 MD DC VA SU V1 V2 V3 V4


‘DON’T ASK’ IS REPEALED IN


THEMILITARY


HISTORIC VOTE MILITARY BAN


Troops keep eye


on Capitol Hill Domestically and abroad, they were drawn to the debate. Now they wonder how the change will be implemented. A8


WASHINGTONSKETCH


Hard-line McCain The senator was combative, confronting his colleagues before the vote and referring to “this bizarro world.” A8


DREAMACT


A failed strategy? A plan that began with bipartisan support slowly died as the nation’s mood shifted on illegal immigration. A3


ONLINE 6 What’s your take?


User poll: If “don’t ask, don’t tell” is repealed, do


you think morale among troops will change?


cus; four senators did not vote. Top Pentagon officials — who


lobbied vigorously for repeal, in part because they feared that a court-ordered lifting of the ban would be far more disruptive — said Saturday that it would take months and perhaps longer to implement the newpolicy. In a statement,Obamasaid: “It


is time to close this chapter in our history. It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orien- tation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed.” The vote came after an exhaus-


tive Pentagon review found that allowing gays to serve openly posed a “low risk” of disruption andthat a large majority of troops expected it would have little or no


repeal continued onA8


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