B6
Highway worker is killed in Maryland
by Ashley Halsey III
With the yellow light atop his pickup truck whirling its warn- ing from three lanes away, high- way worker Ghassen Sabra fo- cused his attention on his job in the fast lane of a dark highway an hour past midnight on Thursday, unaware until too late that a vehi- cle was bearing down on him at high speed. It clipped him and sped on,
leaving him sprawled in the cen- ter lane of Route 50 in Anne Arundel County. Then, a tractor- trailer apparently hit Sabra; the tractor-trailer’s driver said he didn’t see the prone body in time to stop. It apparently was the first
death of a highway worker in Maryland since 2006 and brought to eight the number killed in the past five years. Sa- bra’s death was unusual in that it didn’t happen in a construction zone. Nationally, statistics show that highway workers are vulner- able to traffic and that their work zones are deadly for people in ve- hicles as well. More than 700 people were killed in work-zone crashes in 2008, the most recent year for which figures are available. About 90 percent of the fatalities were drivers and their passen- gers. Maryland joined numerous other states this year in deploying mobile speed cameras in work zones.
Authorities investigating Sa-
bra’s death say he apparently was not observing protocols estab- lished by the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA). “We may not know for a while
why he was out there at the hour he was out there,” said David Buck of the SHA. “It seemed odd to us, too. It’s usually a daytime operation, and policy calls for a spotter to be out there with him.” Normally, when the contract- ing company that deploys devices to track traffic volume plans to work on equipment, it e-mails the highway administration in ad- vance. Then, a state vehicle with flashing lights or a state police car with flashing lights would be dispatched to alert approaching drivers of the work zone, Buck said. That option for a “protection vehicle or police vehicle” is spelled out in nine pages of SHA guidelines that address installa- tion and removal of traffic-count- ing devices. Those same guide- lines also say “work should take place approximately 100 feet in front of the work or protection vehicle in the direction of travel.” In this instance, Buck said, the
state received no prior notifica- tion, and Sabra was working alone on a dark stretch of Route 50 eastbound between Route 2 and Bay Dale Drive. Sabra’s vehicle was parked on the right shoulder, and he was struck in the farthest-left lane of three, Buck said. It was not clear whether he was laying down or taking up the slender rubber tubes that are laid across all lanes and connected to a counter box that usually is chained to the guardrail. Sabra, 52, of Golds- boro, N.C., was wearing reflective clothing, Buck said. Buck said that Sabra’s employ-
er, Baltimore-based Sabra, Wang and Associates, had gone through safety training in recent months. The firm declined Thursday to
say why he was working an hour past midnight. “Our people, they know what
they have to do,” said Jennifer Grabowski, the firm’s human re- sources director. “We want to wait for the investigation to be done before we talk about it more.” In a statement, the company said, “Gus was a loyal, hard work- ing man who enjoyed his work and the colleagues and clients he worked with. Gus is survived by his wife and four children.” By happenstance, an ambu- lance headed for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, en route to Queen Anne’s County, came upon the ac- cident minutes after the truck struck Sabra, who was pro- nounced dead at the scene. The truck driver, Ricky C. Beas-
ley, 51, of Mount Olive, N.C., told state police investigators that he did not see the first vehicle strike Sabra, and police said they had no description of that vehicle, which did not stop. No charges were filed against Beasley. The Maryland State Police are asking drivers who were in the area of eastbound Route 50 and Bay Dale Drive between 12:30 and 1:30 a.m. Thursday to contact them at 410-761-5130.
halseya@washpost.com
S
KLMNO
OBITUARIES
Area leaders cite progress on bay
by Aaron C. Davis
Leaders of the District, Mary- land and Virginia on Thursday claimed major progress toward meeting pollution reduction deadlines for the Chesapeake Bay next year, even as environ- mentalists questioned those as- sertions and said that if leaders are wrong, the federal govern- ment must step in and levy pen- alties against the jurisdictions. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Mal-
ley (D), Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) and District May- or Adrian M. Fenty (D) gathered in Baltimore, along with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) and EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe in the first meet- ing of the so-called Chesapeake Executive Council since McDon- nell took office in January and since a settlement last month of a lawsuit brought against the EPA by bay advocates. They say that settlement requires the EPA to hold states strictly to their 2011 deadlines for improvements to the bay, which include reduc- ing nitrogen, phosphorous and other pollutants, planting cover crops to prevent erosion and cleaning up leaky septic systems. O’Malley said Maryland had broadly reached 44 percent of its goals so far. McDonnell said his state is making progress on sev- eral fronts, including achieving its goal for phosphorous reduc- tion. However, environmentalists
said McDonnell must have been mistaken, or thinking of a more narrow measure of phosphorous reduction from wasterwater dis- charge. “I don’t know what he
was talking about,” said Beth McGee, a senior water quality scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “When you look at the total loads, I don’t know how he can say they are making it.” Following the meeting, Wil-
liam Hayden, a spokesman for Virginia’s Department of Envi- ronmental Quality, said McDon- nell had been referring to waste- water, but that in fact the state is close to meeting its total 2011 goal for reducing phosphorous pollution. If true, it would be an- other measure of good news for the Chesapeake Bay, which has recorded a surprising, 60-per- cent rebound in its blue crab population, according to a recent estimate and slight water quality improvements. Perciasepe, a former Maryland
environmental secretary, attend- ed the meeting in place of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who was busy with oil cleanup efforts in the gulf. He announced the launch of a new Web site
(
http://stat.chesapeakebay.net)
where he said residents can track bay cleanup efforts. “We’re entering a time of un- precedented accountability,” Per- ciasepe said. “With the technol- ogy and our ability to measure and monitor, we are learning more and more about how to be transparent and open and ac- countable for the progress we need to make.” Will Baker, president of the
foundation, said he was still skeptical the states would come close to meeting the most impor- tant goals, and stressed that not meeting them is now a federal is- sue for states.
davisa@washpost.com
Interview with Price shown at Wone trial
wone from B1
in the case. But prosecutors have said in court that they think Price’s younger brother, Michael C. Price, who had substance abuse problems and was accused of stealing from the home two months after Wone’s death, “may have been” the killer. Michael Price has not been charged with any crimes in connection with the slaying.
During the videotaped inter-
view, recorded the morning of Aug. 3, 2006, a shaken Joseph Price told then-District police homicide detective Bryan Waid how he and Wone met when both were students at William and Mary and stayed in touch as each went to law school. Wone was “true blue” and
didn’t drink, do drugs or cuss, Price said. “If you had a daughter, you’d want this guy to marry her,” he said. “I’d trade places with Robert — that’s how much I liked him. He was a very good friend.” None of the three roommates
had anything to do with the at- tack, Price told Waid. “I don’t have one tiny, itty-bitty doubt that neither Victor or Dy- lan did a sole thing to Robert,” Price said. “If I had anything to hide, I wouldn’t be talking, be- cause I know better. But I don’t.” As the prosecution case nears its end, D.C. Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz instructed pros- ecutors Thursday to prepare a written brief that lays out the evi- dence against each of the three men and to connect the dots by laying the “actual factual infer- ences” that authorities are mak- ing. Defense attorneys, mean- while, are preparing motions on why they think the charges should be dropped. At the re- quest of the defendants, the case will be decided by a judge and not a jury. In the taped interview, Price said that Wone arrived about 10:30 that hot August night and
that he, Wone and Ward chatted in the kitchen for a while before all three headed to bed. Some- time later, he said, he heard the door chime as it opened but as- sumed the tenant who lived in the basement had arrived home. Then he was awakened by grunts. He and Zaborsky, who shared a third-floor bedroom, went down- stairs to investigate. “Robert was lying there on the
bed. He had blood on his shirt,” Price said. “It was very surreal. Victor was screaming.” Price told Waid that he ordered Zaborsky to call 911 and that Wone moaned as he put a towel on the wounds to stop the blood. He said he felt for a pulse and moved a knife off his friend as he waited for help to arrive. After the ambulance arrived,
Price told Waid, he went down- stairs and noticed that the back door on the ground floor, which led to an enclosed patio, was un- locked and a knife was missing from the block in the kitchen. He said that he and his friends
wouldn’t have had any opportu- nity to concoct a version of events. “There was no time after the cops got there that there would have been any chance for us to get together on our story,” Price said. Prosecutors, who are uncon- vinced by the defendants’ ac- count, have noted that there were no signs of forced entry and that nothing was missing from the home. Waid testified that he thought it would be difficult to get over the tall backyard fence. He said there were no footprints or signs that the top of the fence or foliage had been disturbed. He said he even noticed undisturbed cob- webs on some of the trees. Zaborsky’s attorney, Thomas G. Connolly, tried to show that someone could climb the fence. He played a video of himself, and several other people, scaling it.
glodm@washpost.com
Spelling bee down to 48 semifinalists
by Jenna Johnson
The 83rd Scripps National Spelling Bee has been narrowed from 273 spellers from across the globe to 48 semifinalists, includ- ing three from the D.C. area. The semifinalists were select- ed based on a written test they took Wednesday and two tele- vised rounds Thursday. Competition will continue Fri-
day. The champion will receive a trophy and more than $40,000 in cash and prizes on national tele- vision Friday evening.
J. Paul Hile
FDA OFFICIAL
J. Paul Hile, 79, a former associ-
ate commissioner for regulatory affairs of the Food and Drug Ad- ministration, died May 25 at Cap- ital Hospice’s Halquist Memorial Inpatient Center in Arlington County. He had leukemia and had been a longtime Fairfax County resident. From 1976 to 1986, Mr. Hile was the third-highest ranking FDA of- ficial, overseeing many of the agency’s regulatory duties. Joseph Paul Hile was born in
Denver. In 1952, he received a bachelor’s degree in animal pro- duction from Colorado State Uni- versity. After serving in the Army during the Korean War, he be- came an FDA investigator in Den- ver and later Seattle. He relocated to Rockville in 1964 and oversaw field operations until his leader- ship role in regulatory affairs. He received the FDA’s Award of
Merit, the agency’s highest honor, and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Distin- guished Service Award. After the FDA, he parlayed his
experience into consulting, first with Hazleton Laboratories, a Vi- enna medical research firm, and the Phoenix Regulatory Associ- ates, an agency he helped found. He retired in 2001. Mr. Hile had a model train set of the Santa Fe Railway’s route through the pastoral regions of California, which took up half a two-car garage. A genealogist, he enjoyed tracing his lineage and was national president of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. Survivors include his wife of 48 years, Helen Neu Hile of Fairfax; two children, Karen McDonald of Oak Hill, Va., and John Hile of Blacksburg, Va.; a sister; and two grandchildren.
—Timothy R. Smith
Russell D. Kirk
CHEMIST, PHYSICIST
Russell D. Kirk, 91, a scientist who specialized in biolumines- cence and the properties of glass, died May 25 at Laurel Regional Hospital of congestive heart fail- ure and pneumonia. He worked for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory as a chemist and physicist for 30 years before retiring in 1977. Russell Daler Kirk was a native
of Lakewood, Ohio. He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II, teaching chemical warfare and conducting reconnaissance in the European theater. After the war, he graduated from what became Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He worked as a chemist at an enameling company and then owned and operated a small busi- ness that made and sold inorgan- ic chemicals, which he sold before moving to Washington in the late 1940s. Mr. Kirk had numerous hob- bies, including photography, enameling, wood carving, as- tronomy and rock gardening. Until the 1980s, he was a mem- ber of Congress Heights Presbyte- rian Church in Washington, where he was in charge of main- taining the gardens. He became a member of Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Forestville and volunteered at a food pantry near his home in Camp Springs. He first wife, Lillian Rivers, whom he married in the late 1940s, died in 1986. Survivors include his wife, Mil-
dred Louise Tapager of Silver Spring, whom he married in 1987; two children from his first mar- riage, Christine Shippen of Mount Airy and Brian Kirk of Purcell- ville; three stepchildren, Karen Marsh of Waldorf, Michael Tapag- er of Shipman, Va., and Douglas Tapager of Butler, Pa.; a brother; and 11 grandchildren.
—Emma Brown
Rhonda J. Crane
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
EXECUTIVE
Rhonda J. Crane, 63, a telecom-
The 48 semifinalists include
two students from Virginia and one from Maryland. All three at- tend home school, according to their online biographies. Tim Ruiter, 12, an eighth-grade student from Centreville, spelled “canapé” and “paparazzo” to ad- vance to the semifinals. He tied for second place last year. Lanson Tang, 14, of Potomac,
correctly spelled “obelisk” and “prabhu.” Sarah Anne Allen, 12, of Waynesboro, Va., spelled “sar- saparilla” and “alation.”
johnsonj@washpost.com
munications policy expert at AT&T, died May 19 at Johns Hop- kins Hospital in Baltimore. She had diabetes and congestive heart failure. Dr. Crane represented AT&T’s interests as a delegation member of international organizations in- cluding the International Tele- communication Union, the Or- ganisation for Economic Co-op- eration and Development and the World Intellectual Property Or- ganization.
She joined AT&T in 1976 in
New York and moved to Washing- ton in 1985 to work for the com- pany’s federal government affairs department. When she retired in 2001, she was director of AT&T’s international affairs division. She wrote “The Politics of
International Standards: France and the Color T.V. War” in 1979 and co-edited “The Telecommuni- cations Revolution: Past, Present and Future” in 1992. Rhonda Joyce Crane, a native of Philadelphia, received a bach- elor’s degree from American Uni-
versity of Beirut in Lebanon in 1967 and a master’s degree from George Washington University in 1972, both in sociology. In 1976, she received a doctorate in politi- cal science from the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology. In 1988, she received the AT&T
Public Affairs Award to Celebrate Excellence, and in 1989, she re- ceived an American Electronics Association Science and Technol- ogy Fellowship.
She lived in the District and
served on the board of Watergate West. She was a founding mem- ber of the Committee to Preserve the Watergate Heritage, which helped secure D.C. landmark sta- tus for the Watergate. Survivors include a brother.
—Lauren Wiseman
Virginia Sullivan-Jones
TEACHER, EMPLOYMENT
COUNSELOR
Virginia Sullivan-Jones, 98, an employment counselor for the Virginia Employment Commis- sion until the early 1980s, died May 22 at Po- tomac Homes Assisted Liv- ing in Annan- dale of com- plications af- ter a stroke. Mrs. Sulli-
Sullivan-Jones
van-Jones had worked for the employ- ment commis-
sion since the late 1960s. Previ- ously she was a homemaker and piano teacher.
Virginia Ann Berry was born in
Hugo, Okla. and grew up in Ar- kansas. She graduated in 1932 from Arkansas College, now known as Lyon College, with a bachelor’s degree in English and a diploma in piano performance. Mrs. Sullivan-Jones worked as
a teacher in Arkansas before mov- ing to King George, Va., east of Fredericksburg, where her family had Colonial-era roots. There she met her husband-to-be, Patrick G. Sullivan. The couple married in 1948 and moved to the Washington area, eventually settling in Vienna. Mrs. Sullivan-Jones was a member of Lewinsville Presbyte- rian Church in McLean. Her first husband died in 1977.
Her second husband, Stafford L. Jones, died in 1987. Survivors include a son from
her first marriage, Patrick G. Sul- livan Jr. of Herndon; two step- children from her second mar- riage, Stafford Jones of German- town and Kendrick Matter of Vienna; and a granddaughter.
—Emma Brown
Douglas N. Sullivan
COMMUNICATIONS
TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST
Douglas N. Sullivan, 36, a Navy
veteran who became a communi- cations technology specialist for defense contractors, died May 23 at the University of Virginia hos- pital in Charlottesville of a bacte- rial infection. Mr. Sullivan served in the Navy from 1992 to 1996, then worked for defense contractors before starting his own company, Cus- tomized Operations Management Solutions. His work took him to Iraq from 2003 to 1005. Last year, he moved to Char-
lottesville from Falls Church and most recently worked for the de- fense contracting company Delta Bridge.
Douglas Neal Sullivan was a na- tive of Portsmouth, Va., and a 1991 graduate of Randolph-Macon Academy, a college-prep military school in Front Royal. He attend- ed the DeVry technical school. Survivors include his wife, Eva
Hazqeal Sullivan, whom he mar- ried in 2005, and their daughter, Alanna Sullivan, both of Char- lottesville. Mr. Sullivan’s other survivors include his father and stepmoth- er, Terry Sullivan and Carol Haave of McLean; his mother, Martha Sullivan of Raleigh, N.C.; a sister; his paternal grandmother; and his maternal grandfather.
—Adam Bernstein
Tony Wolfe
BUSINESS OWNER
Tony Wolfe, 74, who owned a home-renovation business based in the Frederick area, died May 25 at his home in Myersville. He had respiratory failure. After serving in the Army in the
1950s, Mr. Wolfe worked with his father at the family-owned Pent- house Dry Cleaning and Laundry in Bethesda. He left the business in the early
1970s to work as a real estate agent in Frederick and Washing- ton counties. In 1985, he began his home-improvement and reno- vation business. He continued working until about a year before his death. Mr. Wolfe was born Clagett An-
thony Wolfe in Bethesda and was a 1954 graduate of Bethesda-Che- vy Chase High School. He served in the Army from 1954 to 1956. Survivors include his wife of 46 years, Geraldine Slezak Wolfe of
Myersville; six children, C. Antho- ny Wolfe Jr. of Dallastown, Pa., Vincent Wolfe of Frederick, Cece- lia Flye of Vienna, Timothy Wolfe of Hagerstown, Md., Christopher Wolfe of Mount Airy and Rebecca Uppercue of Gettysburg, Pa.; five siblings, Harry H. Wolfe III of Ad- amstown, Charles Wolfe of Fred- erick, David Wolfe of Reston, Wal- ter Wolfe of Hyattstown and Rose- mary Stewart of Middletown, Md.; and nine grandchildren.
—T. Rees Shapiro
Lenwood O. Trammelle Sr.
FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2010
MARRIOTT CORP. EMPLOYEE
Lenwood O. Trammelle Sr., 84,
a building engineer who retired in the mid-1990s after working for Marriott for 15 years, died May 22 at Shady Grove Adventist Hos- pital in Rockville of complications from pneumonia. He was a Gai- thersburg resident. Mr. Trammelle previously was
a building engineer for apart- ment complexes in Montgomery County and Northern Virginia. Lenwood Otis Trammell — he
later added the second “e” — was born in Vale, in Fairfax County. According to the Washington Star, his father served in the Civil War as a very young man in the Confederate army, and his mother was the last surviving Confeder- ate widow in Fairfax County. Mr. Trammelle served in the
Navy during World War II in Eu- ropean waters as well as the Pacif- ic.
He enjoyed hunting deer. Survivors include his wife of 64 years, the former Carrie R. Ro- berson, of Gaithersburg; three children, Patricia A. Gernat of Concord, N.C., Lenwood O. Tram- melle Jr. of Gaithersburg and Ronald L. Trammelle of Cascade, Md.; 14 grandchildren; 19 great- grandchildren; and one great- great grandchild.
—Emma Brown
Samuel H. Rickard III
FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER
Samuel H. Rickard III, 85, a re-
tired Foreign Service officer who was an authority on South Asia and the Middle East, died May 20 at the Falcons Landing retire- ment facility in Potomac Falls. He had Parkinson’s disease. Mr. Rickard joined the State
Department in 1950. His first overseas diplomatic assignment was in Rangoon, Burma, where he had spent much of his childhood. He also had Foreign Service post- ings in India, Israel, Pakistan and Afghanistan. From 1975 until his retirement in 1984, he was based in Washing- ton. From 1989 to 1995, he worked on contract as a training officer for the State Department. Samuel Harmer Rickard III was born in Atlantic City and moved with his family to Burma, where his parents were Baptist missionaries and teachers. He at- tended a boarding school in In- dia. His family made a harrowing escape from Burma in December 1941 after Japanese forces invad- ed.
During World War II, Mr. Rick-
ard served as an Army Air Forces pilot in the Pacific. He graduated in 1949 from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., where he was on the soccer team. He lived in Chevy Chase for
many years before moving to Leesburg in 2006. His wife of 54 years, Elaine
Lonnquest Rickard, died in Janu- ary. Their son, Samuel L. Rickard, died in 2007. Survivors include a daughter,
Kristin R. Spak of Leesburg; two brothers; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
—Matt Schudel
Walter G. Walker Jr.
STATISTICIAN
Walter G. Walker Jr., 78, a stat- istician for several federal agen- cies, including the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, died May 17 at the Emeritus nurs- ing facility in Arlington County. Mr. Walker taught math at schools in Richmond and New- port News, Va., before settling in the Washington area in the late 1960s. He worked at the Census Bureau and Department of Hous- ing and Urban Development be- fore joining HEW. After leaving the federal work- place about 1980, he taught auto mechanics at Northern Virginia Community College. Walter Gray Walker Jr. was a
Newport News native and a Navy veteran of the Korean War. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1954. He was a ham radio operator and once, in retirement, was a ra- dio operator on a barge delivering grain to Africa. He attended the Unitarian Uni- versalist Church of Arlington. His marriage to Virginia Crute
Walker ended in divorce. Survi- vors include three children, James Walker of Munich, Thomas Walker of Washington and Mar- tha Kwiterovich of Baltimore; and two grandchildren.
—Adam Bernstein
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