ABCDE METRO sunday, august 1, 2010
POSTLOCAL.com 76, 9 a.m. 83, noon 85, 5 p.m. 77, 9 p.m.
Obituaries Maurice Hines Sr., 88, was the father of tap-dancing stars Maurice and Gregory Hines, whom he toured with for many years in a nightclub act. C6
Strings attached to Gray’s
coalition If elected, D.C. hopeful can expect a quick test of his ability to say no
by Tim Craig In the race for the Democratic
nomination for mayor, Vincent C. Gray has told supporters of Dis- trict charter schools that he will provide funding parity to the 28,000 city students who attend the schools, a $140 million prom- ise.
The D.C. Council chairman has said he is committed to training the city’s workforce for jobs in emerging fields. Ward 7’s jobless rate is 19 percent, and Ward 8’s is near 30 percent. And on his mayoral campaign
Web site, he vows to invest in ear- ly education — universal pre-kin- dergarten and universal infant and toddler education — as well as find money for police officers, firefighters and emergency med- ical staff. Gray’s wide-ranging and poten-
tially expensive policy positions have helped him amass a coali- tion most politicians would envy. He has received endorsements from the AFL-CIO, public em- ployees unions, the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, the D.C. Tenants Advocacy Coalition, the D.C. Real- tors Association, nurses, social workers, and gay and Hispanic Democratic groups. Observers say the coalition is crucial to Gray, whose war chest, at last report, was about one- tenth the $3 million amassed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. The broad support could translate into financial backing and volun- teer workers, and it could bolster
gray continued on C4 ROBERT McCARTNEY
The Almighty vents; guess who suffers
J
udging by all the woes that have afflicted the Washington region so far in 2010, you might wonder
whether we’re being punished for somehow offending the Almighty. Paralyzing snow in the winter.
Triple-digit heat in the summer. A severe storm that came out of nowhere and shut down half of Montgomery County. An actual earthquake.
And now the Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg can’t pitch, and the Redskins’ Albert Haynesworth can’t run. Wonder no more. WikiLeaks has slipped me a transcript of a heavenly conversation between the Big Guy (or Gal) and one of His (or Her) lackeys. (Since this is Washington, an “administrative assistant” would have been more appropriate, but I like the ring of “lackey.”) The divine dialogue reveals much about what has been smiting us.
Almighty: Those folks along
the Potomac don’t realize it, but I’m just getting started. To make sure I got their
mccartney continued on C4 by Emily Langer F
rank Leimbach was a man of let- ters. One of them, to his mother, began like this: Hello Momer, By the time you re- ceive this you’ll probably know
I’m in a hospital somewhere in England due to wounds received on the invasion. As it happened, Anna Leimbach knew nothing about her son’s injuries. The offi- cial Western Union telegram wouldn’t ar- rive at her Northeast Washington home for at least two more weeks. Received two separate wounds, 22-year- old Pvt. Leimbach wrote, the first one being amachine gun bullet wound in the right leg just below the knee as I was getting off the invasion barge. ... Didn’t know I was hit at first ... . All I wanted to do then was get up on the beach. That was Omaha Beach. On June 23, 1944, the two-page letter on American Red Cross stationery that Pvt. Leimbach sent to his “Momer” appeared on the front page of an early edition of The Washington Post. As far as was known at the time, The Post re- ported, it was “the first personal letter re- ceived in Washington from one of the Dis-
Pvt. Frank Leimbach posed with his mother, Anna Leimbach, in May 1943 after basic training and before he left for North Africa. She compiled his letters and photos in two wartime scrapbooks. One such photo, at left, is labeled “Reed and I testing a line.” Pvt. Leimbach is on the left.
FAMILY PHOTOS
D-Day veteran showered family with letters, which were shared in the hometown paper
trict’s D-Day heroes.” Frank Leimbach, 88, died June 29 at
Montgomery General Hospital of pneumo- nia. His life was all about delivering mes- sages. He was a paperboy when The Post bore
news of the Great Depression. After graduating from Eastern High School, he followed his affinity for the writ- ten word to Acme Printing, where he rose from pressman to owner. A lineman and switchboard operator in the Army, Pvt. Leimbach was carrying more than 40 pounds of telephone wire, in addi- tion to his regular pack, when he landed in Normandy. And battle turned the young soldier into
a prolific writer. War has a way of doing that. Letters are soldiers’ link “back to civili- zation or the world or a happier time,” said D-Day historian and Vietnam War veteran Ronald Drez. Pvt. Leimbach showered his family in
Washington with letters — pages and pages of them, now worn and thin, about arriving in North Africa, fighting the cold and ex- haustion and enjoying the relative sweet life of KP duty in England. In one letter, he
leimbach continued on C6 XIAOMEI CHEN/THE WASHINGTON POST Goal is a chance to start over
Lisa Wrightsman of Sacramento is a member of one of the teams from 19 cities across the country playing in the Street Soccer USA Open Cup, being held in the District this weekend. Story, C3.
Who knew? Think you know Washington? Read about the area, submit trivia questions, and share your story or photo of unnoticed spaces on Washingtology. Go to
PostLocal.com.
VIRGINIA
Bomb scares No one has been injured by the several homemade chemical bombs found in Fairfax County mailboxes recently. But residents should be cautious, authorities say. C4
A LOCAL LIFE: FRANK LEIMBACH, 88
War turned soldier into a prolific writer
‘Granddad Bandit’ isn’t camera-shy
by Maria Glod
The balding, middle-aged man does not look the part of a crimi- nal mastermind, with his wire- rimmed glasses, polo shirts and paunch. But he has calmly walked into banks in 13 states, including Virginia, and made off with thousands of dollars. FBI agents call him “the
Granddad Bandit,” and he has eluded them for 19 months. Now federal authorities are launching a nationwide cam- paign to put a name to the face that has been captured in so many surveillance photos. He is suspected of robbing 25 banks from Florida to Texas to New York. He wears no mask. He doesn’t appear to have an ac- complice. And as far as anyone can tell, he doesn’t bring a gun. “He reminds me of Uncle Fes-
C DC MD VA S
JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON Former glory
In the early days, the District earned a name as the “City of Trees.” Read how early American leaders made sure the District’s streets were lined with green, and how some became concerned for the trees’ well-being as the city grew and became more modern. C3
Not the usual look
for a bank robber SUSPECTED IN 25 HOLDUPS
ter when I look at him,” said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Amanda Moran, who is in charge of bank robbery investigations. “It’s amazing this has gone on
so long,” she said. “The Grand- dad Bandit does not conceal himself at all. We don’t often have bank robbers who don’t use hats, sunglasses, scarves. Most bank robbers try to hide their identity.” In coming days, the FBI plans to post the man’s image on near- ly 2,000 digital billboards in more than 40 states, a tactic usu- ally reserved for the most-urgent investigations, such as trying to track down a violent criminal on the run. But in the case of the Granddad Bandit, news releases and wanted posters distributed near the banks he robbed have yielded nothing, so authorities decided to make the plea for help nationwide.
Authorities think the man first struck on Dec. 19, 2008 at a Sun- Trust Bank in Richmond. Just af- ter 5 p.m., a man in a dark coat went to the counter and handed a teller a note. The robber de- manded a specific amount of money, police said, but they
bandit continued on C4
Stores take heat for letting out cold
Critics fight open-door policies that waste electricity
by Leslie Tamura C
hristopher Moline was spending a sweltering af- ternoon with his son Nich-
olas at the Bowie Town Center mall when he noticed that the doors of Rave clothing store were wide open. The cold air rushing from the store was refreshing, but it also made his temperature rise as he thought of all the wasted energy. “I don’t know about most
folks,” said the 42-year-old Bowie man, “but my father always told me to close the door so we wouldn’t be heating or cooling the outdoors.” Leaving the doors open while running the air conditioner can increase electricity use by 20 to 25 percent, according to one power company’s estimate. The amount wasted depends on loca- tion, weather and humidity. “The equipment is working ex-
tra hard to condition a space that’ll never be conditioned,” said Sarah O’Connell, energy outreach coordinator of the Ar- lington Initiative to Reduce Emissions. “Businesses are pay- ing extra to condition the out- door air.” Moline made videos of the wide-open doors throughout the mall and posted them on You- Tube. With his camera phone, he taped his conversations with managers, who often said it was the store’s general practice to keep their doors open. Open doors made it easier for parents with strollers to get inside, one associate said. When Moline revisited the mall a few days later, one of the shops he had visited had a bro- ken air conditioner. “That is not a coincidence,
man,” said Moline, who said the broken system was probably a re-
doors continued on C10
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