Positive Nature, the nonprofit that serves some of the most vulnerable kids in the city with after-school and summer programs, had operated out of a converted warehouse in the shadow of Nationals Park. Before the new stadium opened last spring, the operation had already accumulated $200,000 in debt, stemming from its lease obligation to pay property taxes. One thing was clear: It had to move.

After a six-month struggle involving rallies, a bucket drive on Opening Day, and several D.C. Council hearings, Positive Nature forged a new deal with the city. The Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) found the nonprofit a new home at the DC Center for Therapeutic Recreation on G Street SE and made Positive Nature a partner. The nonprofit relocated over the Labor Day weekend and celebrated recently with an open house.

Co-director Jennifer Murphy says the displacement and move were difficult, but “ultimately, we didn’t have a choice.”

Positive Nature had been in existence for eight-and-a-half years and worked with more than a thousand at-risk kids, many of them in foster care. But Murphy faced major budget problems and had started paying employees with credit cards.

The idea of moving into one of the soon-to-be vacant schools was considered and set aside. A bill introduced in the D.C. Council—the “Positive Nature Property Tax Exemption Forgiveness Act”—went nowhere. In the meantime, the directors heard rumors their warehouse rental had a potential buyer.

When DPR stepped up, Murphy adds she got another bit of good news—her old landlord agreed to absorb their stadium-related property-tax debt. “They were pretty damn phenomenal,” she says. “We got a break. They came through in the end. They could have evicted us at any time. I still don’t know why they cut us a break.”

In their new home, all the offices and the programs—the entire operation—had to be run out of the gym for a week, in part because the facility wasn’t ready to accommodate the new tenants. “A lot of toes got stepped on,” Murphy says.

Some DPR employees still in the building seemed unsure as to where they fit in. John Stokes, the department’s director of communication, says a few of them are assigned to  work at the facility’s pool. The pool, however, isn’t open. It’s being renovated.

“They all have the same shirts on—Positive Nature,” Stokes says. “I’m not aware of folks not having anything to do…I think sometimes when you have change, I think change can be seen as difficult to some people. We’ve not witnessed anything. It was a smooth transition.”

Murphy and co-director Brian Bailey do credit DPR Director Clark E. Ray with saving their nonprofit. “This was an outside-the-box way of doing it. And he was willing to take the risk,” Murphy says. “This is exciting. I do think it’s visionary.”

Part of the vision means Murphy’s and Bailey’s days are now consumed with evicting an infestation of mice and mosquitoes while they adjust to their new responsibilities. Their staff plans to expand services from 35 to 75 kids, and they’re now providing daytime programming for special-needs adults.

“The agreement with DPR and Positive Nature marks the first time where one of our partners will be fully programming a DPR facility,” says Stokes. “It’s positive. It’s a win-win.”

(City Paper photo of Brian Bailey, left, and Jennifer Murphy by Staff Photographer Darrow Montgomery)

Last week, Todd Metrokin, whose brutal beating on Kalorama Road we wrote about, told City Desk police were close to making an arrest in his case. Today, via the Washington Blade, we learned one unnamed juvenile has been charged.

We also reported Metrokin has been involved in the re-forming of the advocacy group Gays and Lesbians Opposed to Violence. Chris Farris, who originally blogged about the attack on Metrokin and two of his friends on thenewgay.net and is one of the organizers of GLOV, tells the Blade:

GLOV plans to follow the prosecution of the juvenile suspect arrested in the case and will look into the city’s juvenile laws, which prohibit the release of any information about criminal prosecution of juveniles. Under existing law, authorities cannot disclose whether a juvenile arrested in a crime is convicted of the crime and, if convicted, what sentence he or she receives from a juvenile court judge.

I have a message out to Metrokin and will update with his response.

For six months now, Don’t Be Silent a blog dedicated to giving “the women of DC a place to speak up about their ordeals with street harassment” has been—uh—silent. The blog, whose author was interviewed for an engrossing Washington City Paper cover story (”Nice Ass!” by Joe Eaton) on catcalling, ground to a halt in March. It’s a development that makes it tough for the site to help the innocent-if-hot stand up against the creepy-if-desperate, as it once hoped to: “I’m sick and tired of the loser men on the streets feeling like they can get away with this shit. It’s up to all of us to make a stand,” the blog’s author states in her introduction post.

According to her final blog entry, “A Tough Decision,” the activist—identified only as D. Howard in that aforementioned CP article—has put the brakes on her project partly because of personal reasons, partly because of (what else?) harassment, this time from the commenters

“Someone can have a post linked on DC Blogs about a nice walk in the park but get no reactions, but anytime DBS is linked everyone has something to say,” Howard laments.

At particular issue, it seems, is the blowback the writer endured after posting an account of a morning conflict she had, not with a random perv, but with a group of loud, trash-talking teenagers on a Metrobus. “The reactions to ‘Rowdy Teens Attack on Morning Commute‘ have been mixed—mostly on the side of ‘What is wrong with you?’ It got to the point when I wasn’t even reading the responses anymore. I was blindly pressing ‘publish.’”

The post beins: “I was not expecting to come to blows with rowdy kids on my morning commute to work today” and continues:

I waited for the 80 bus towards Kennedy Center at around 9:20 this morning. The bus came at approximately 9:30. I normally sit near the front of the bus, but I couldn’t find an available seat. I sit near the back near the rear exit, and three rowdy teens—a boy and two girls—were sitting in the back making all sorts of noise. It was their “typical friendly” conversation—calling people “n***a,” showing schadenfreude at their “friends” getting hit with balls in gym class, and other profanitites[sic]and obscenities. It’s only five minutes to the train station, I thought to myself. I’ll live. But I couldn’t. The more these kids spoke vulgar and cruel words, the more riled up I got. When the boy started saying “Dick. D-I-C-K. Dickdickdickdickdickdick. . .” I had lost my cool.

Believing she’s completely in the right, at the conclusion of her story, Howard supplies her readers with descriptions of the rowdy adolescents. “Like I learned from the workshop, do whatever you can to get a description of perpetrators—like I did—and spread the word. It’ll make it easier to prevent them from doing this again. But some of her readers just don’t get why Howard reacted the way she did.

“You were upset with kids cursing and being rowdy,” reads one comment, “so you resort to cursing and provoking them further?! Yeah, that’s mature. Way to take the high road. In the future, choose your battles more wisely.”

As DBS is no more, looks like Howard has taken that advice to heart.

“I’m going to step back into the background,” she writes. “Like someone told me, there are quieter and less dangerous ways of trying to change the world, and that’s what I want to do.”

(City Paper illustration by Kyle T. Webster)

—Rend Smith

The autopsy report is in for Christopher Savage. According to the Office of the D.C. Medical Examiner, Savage died of “acute intoxication” from the combined effects of “Methadone, Morphine, Hydrocodone, Diazepam/Nordiazepam, Carisoprodol and Meprobamate.” Manner of death: accident.

Savage died on his friends’ couch in the early a.m. of April 19, a few hours after he’d been beaten by muggers in Adams Morgan and only five days after he’d left an unhappy life in California to make new friends and start a new job in D.C. Those last five days were the subject of an April 30 City Paper story.

About 50 people showed up last night to a meeting led by Todd Metrokin, the out-front gay-bashing victim we wrote about two weeks ago, and Chris Farris, an artist and friend of Todd’s who blogs at thenewgay.net.

The meeting effectively re-formed GLOV (Gays and Lesbians Opposed to Violence), a group active in the ’90s (even before e-mails and cell phones!) in establishing victim advocacy, a hotline to report gay-bashing, sensitivity training for cops, and reports of GLBT-related hate crimes. The reconvening is prompted by recent incidents, including the attack in Adams Morgan on Metrokin and two of his friends and the death of Tony Hunter, who was beaten earlier this month outside of BeBar in Shaw.

The city’s sitting up for this, at least right now. Among attendees at last night’s meeting were Councilmembers David Catania, Phil Mendelson, and Jack Evans; Chris Dyer, director of the mayor’s office on GLBT affairs; Lt. Brett Parson, head of the police department’s special liaison units; and several detectives from the 3rd District, which includes Adams Morgan and U Street.

Metrokin’s still struggling with being thrust into a gay-rights leadership role by virtue of being attacked and talking about it. But, he says, he’s inspired by strangers who’ve thanked him and told him their stories. Also, “everyone I’ve come into contact with in the criminal justice system has been much more responsive.” Metrokin was publicly critical of slow progress in his case, which involves a key piece of evidence: a cell phone belonging to one of his attackers; Metrokin found it in his pocket after being discharged from the hospital.

There’s now one suspect in his case; the police report says at least five were involved. Metrokin has met with an assistant district attorney to talk about charges and prosecution.

“People are talking to me more and more about their experiences in D.C., and there are too many to count at this point. Some people are living with this in their neighborhoods on a day-to-day basis. It’s disheartening,” Metrokin says. The feeling at the meeting, he says, was not that gay-bashing is necessarily on the rise, since statistics are unreliable, “but that crimes are becoming more violent.”

(City Paper photograph by Darrow Montgomery)

FlexPetz, the dog-sharing company I wrote about yesterday, does still plan to come to D.C. following its expansion to Boston, despite the modern-day “witch hunt” set off in Massachusetts (which passed legislation this week banning pet rental companies). This comes by way of a spokesperson named Simon who would not give his last name, says he does not actually work for the company (he’s helping out a friend), but did return my call.

My hunch is the “spokesperson” who called me is Simon Brodie, listed as CEO of a company that—at least at one point—owned FlexPetz, although when I called Simon back he denied this and also declined, again, to provide his last name. Simon Brodie, from Britain (the Simon who called me had a British accent, which I’m sure is a coincidence), pleaded guilty and served time there on false accounting charges. He later moved to San Diego, where he founded Allerca, a company that sets up franchisees to sell controversial, specially-bred hypoallergenic cats for as much as $6,000 each. The company was evicted from its headquarters (also Brodie’s home, according to the San Diego Union Tribune) and has been sued by its landlords for failure to pay rent and by Orange County for loan default.

In addtion, the Union Tribune dug up a few more tidbits in October 2006:

Brodie and two other Brodie-affiliated companies, Cerentis and IntegraAssociates, also defaulted on a $72,280 promissory note, according to Los Angeles County court records. Last year, Brodie tried to raise $500,000 to fund an Allerca subsidiary, animal diagnostics firm GeneSentinel, of which he was chairman, president and chief executive. At the time, GeneSentinel listed assets of $3,000 and debts of $200,000.

This year, Brodie laid off some of the GeneSentinel employees; three former employees allege GeneSentinel owes them thousands of dollars in unpaid wages. Brodie acknowledges wages are owed to an unspecified number of former employees. GeneSentinel has since changed its name to Cyntegra.

Brodie’s connection to PetFlex was originally put together by the blog Itchmo: News for Cats and Dogs, which found his name in an SEC listing for Tetros, Inc. FlexPetz states it is “wholly a subsidiary of Tetros, Inc.” Tetros has since been sold to another company, ColdStar Capital.

Oh, and if FlexPetz does come to D.C., Simon acknowledges it will cost members about $280 a month for four doggy days. The dogs, which Simon says are donated to FlexPetz, are made available for adoption by members who want to be sole owners. All of the dogs in the New York office have been adopted while FlexPetz regroups and rethinks its expansion.

“It’s really a novel concept,” says Simon No-Last-Name. “In D.C., alone, we have two or three people every day who want to sign up.”

Thanks, WTOP:

The feline is believed to be a Savannah cat, a domestic crossbreed of a short-haired cat and an African Serval cat.

“It’s something people have done over the years to create an extra-large pet kitty,” says Maryland Department of Natural Resources Wildlife and Heritage Service Director Paul Peditto.

Maybe this will stop all the bad Katie Couric-esque jokes on the previous post.

Remember the heady time of the anthrax case, when the Post devoted 32 chapters to the riveting drama of airborne spores invading big-time news networks, District postal workers, and one “person of interest” who turned out all innocent?

OK. Maybe not. Nearly seven years old, the anthrax case had the misfortune of terrorizing citizens between 9/11 and the Sniper. The case consumed very few other than the more intense strains of the scientific community, the creators of www.anthraxinvestigation.com and the friends and relatives of the wronged “person of interest” Steven Hatfill.

So this morning it came as a shock that law enforcement were still on the case. I read the Post’s lead:

A Maryland bioweapons expert, who prosecutors were on the verge of linking to 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people and terrorized the country, has died — apparently by suicide, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Wow. I thought: Hatfill killed himself. All the media ever talked about was Hatfill. He had been pursued and pursued. The FBI tailed him. I spent time as a passenger in his world, hanging out with him at his home and generally taking in the utter terror of being called “a person of interest.” You can read that story here. Hatfill would get his revenge–a $2.8 million settlement with the Department of Justice made formal a few weeks ago.

Now we have a new person of interest–a dead man named Bruce E. Ivins, 62. According to the Post story a grand jury had been interviewing his colleagues. The Post writes: “Investigators were tightlipped in part because the investigation is ongoing, and also because of their experience with another onetime suspect in the notorious case.”

The anthrax case is now more riveting than ever.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Last week, I wrote my Show & Tell column about two goth nights, Spellbound and Midnight, held within blocks of each other on Saturday nights in Farragut North. A few of the comments on the piece accused me of kicking up some controversy within the goth scene with my side-by-side comparison of the competing events. “Shame on you, city paper,” wrote one reader. “Nothing informative about the djs, the promoters, the spaces….but such emphasis on stirring up ‘goth scene drama.’”

For those commenters’ benefit, I’ve drafted this totally innocuous* report of L Street’s basement goth scene.

The Dark Nights: Inside L Street’s Dueling Peaceably Co-Existing Goth Parties

On Saturday nights, there are two places where you can go to dress up like a goth and hang out with other people dressed up like goths: Midnight and Spellbound. They are really close together and both have great DJs, promoters, and spaces. Did you know that Midnight is just as good as Spellbound, and that both are just as good as any other goth party that’s ever existed anywhere, and any other goth party that’s ever existed anywhere is just as good as any other niche scene event that’s ever existed anywhere? It’s true. Insider tip: Spellbound and Midnight love each other so much that they are going to get married. But don’t take my word for it. Ask the goths!

A goth: “Midnight has cake. But sometimes I don’t want cake. Sometimes I do, though. I just can’t choose!”

Another goth: “Both are so great!!!!!1″

Now for a more comprehensive inventory of how great they both are:

Midnight: Great.

Spellbound: Same.

Got Something for Show & Tell? Send tips to show@washingtoncitypaper.com. Or call (202) 332-2100, x 473.

* completely untrue

In our ever-vigilant vigilance of what is happening at the ol’ Park n’ Shop in Connecticut, D.C., City Desk has learned that Potomac River Running is moving into the former Whatsa Bagel spot, with a possible opening in October. This news comes by way of Josh Hart, elected in June to the ANC 3C04. Hart says the store that’s owned by Northern Virginia runners-entrepreneurs has signed a lease at 3513 Connectictut Ave. NW for its first District outpost. The other stores are in Arlington (Ballston), Burke, Reston, and Ashburn. Want to hear what Fenty ‘rents Phil and Jan have to say about another local-owned shop opening near their customer base? Too bad. An employee over there says they’re on vacay. No call back, either, from one of the Potomac River Running owners, Cathy Pugsley. But keep it dialed in right here for all your struggling stripmall news.

Frank Winstead: Folk hero to some, YouTube vigilante to others, and a total mystery to the press. The advisory neighborhood commissioner has made a name for himself by turning the ping-pong action in front of Comet into a grainy snuff film, and by referring to such ping-pong action as a short swat away from murder and rapes.

Thankfully, this city has a low tolerance for ping-pong porn vids. And, well, a high tolerance for wacky ANC reps.

Maybe Winstead will be re-elected. After all, bad press is the same as good press. Winstead doesn’t quite see it that way. Who the hell knows what he thinks? What he doesn’t believe in is taking reporters’ phone calls. He has stiffed the Post when they came calling. And he hasn’t returned my multiple voice-mail messages. As an elected official, he should be able to answer reporters’ questions.

With that in mind, we decided last night to take a trip to Winstead’s apartment on the 4500 block of Connecticut Avenue NW—quite a distance from Comet. Oh, and we brought along a video camera.

We’d like to call our little film: “Frank Winstead Gives Us The Bird.” Enjoy:

The Brookland listserv has more news on the Cardinal’s Nest, a neighborhood club owned by ex-cop Darrell Green and the subject of this week’s Show & Tell. In the column, I quote neighbor Tim Janning, who says he’s documented numerous visits to the bar from cops who don’t appear to be on official business.

Today, neighbor Dino Drudi noted some additional police presence at the Cardinal’s Nest on the listserv:

My neighbor reports yesterday evening there were FIVE MPD sport utility vehicles parked in front of Cardinal’s Nest—all the officers from these SUVs were patrons of the Cardinal’s Nest. Having observed the first vehicle arriving at 6:30PM, he noticed another hidden from his view that must have been there prior to that time. At approximately 7:10PM three more SUVs arrived. All these SUVs … were marked SOD (Special Operations Division). He reported that these officers were in the Cardinal’s Nest for approximately 1½ hours.

Later, Drudi posted this response, from Special Operations Division Commander James O. Crane:

Greetings Mr. Drudi, you may remember me from my days at 5D as a Sgt and later Captain. I’m still a Woodridge resident. The vehicles in question are under my command and I have initiated an investigated. We share AC Groomes’ and Chief Lanier’s concerns for the appearance and image such actions give the Department.

Sioban Farey, she of the incensed, wordy postings regarding the planned closing of the National Cathedral’s greenhouse, is deep in the weeds on this issue now. Since City Desk broke the news the greenhouse would close June 29, Farey and between 65 and 300 other incensed plant-lovers (her estimates) have been busy organizing to stop the insanity.

They’ve launched a rudimentary Web site, savethegreenhouse.org (upgrades are coming), and Farey has been on the horn with the Washington Post (a weekend story is promised) and NBC 4 (news tonight at 6 or 11, she thinks). It was on the front page of the Northwest Current (can’t link to it, sorry) and, well, they are doing this thing; they are going to keep that greenhouse open.

The Cathedral, which has already handed out virtual pink slips to the greenhouse employees, does not appear to be budging. The associate dean, Margaret Bergan Davis, has said (I’m paraphrasing) that cuts need to be made, new visions have to be realized, the greenhouse is not part of said new visions, so good luck, Sioban Farey. Davis left a message on Farey’s machine about all the other green programs going on that still are a part of the Cathedral’s vision. Farey was not impressed.

Farey has said, well, Farey has said a lot. In a 45-minute conversation late this morning, she brought up Darfur, 9/11, the snipers, the Walter Reed scandal, global warming (natch), and the stress our nation’s decision makers are under. (Plants reduce stress. There are studies. She could find them.) For all of these reasons and many more—including people like to buy plants and herbs at the greenhouse—Farey thinks this is a cause worth fighting for.

“I read the strategic report yesterday. They [the Cathedral officials] want more diverse, younger participants. We’re moving into a more enlightened green period. Even if it’s John McCain, it’s going to be more progressive environmentally. America is rejoining the international community….I’ve been working on planet change the last couple of years out of my own personal interest…This is the nation’s church in the nation’s capital and what they’re doing is cutting the tiny greenhouse loved by lots and lots of people….”

Farey of Chevy Chase, D.C. side, says she has also been enlisting “establishment” people, one of whom calls what’s happening “absolutely disgusting” and another of whom promised to pull $1,000 out of her pocket right then and there “and she said she has a friend who’d be willing to contribute considerably more.”

Yet this is not just a greenhouse for the matrons of Cleveland and Glover Parks, she attests. Latinos shop there for the specialized herbs and people “make pilgrimages” there on a regular basis.

In other words, watch out Margaret Bergan Davis. You’re going to have to deal with this one for awhile yet.

(photo by Just Chaos)

Tonight, step right up to the Palace of Wonders for a special “Weirdo Show” performance to benefit local jugger, magician, and pirate worker Johnny Anderson, who has been in and out of the hospital after having his leg crushed by a car last June. The benefit features performances by conjurer Eric Henning, vaudeville comedians Phillips and Flathead, glass-walker Mab Just Mab, and burlesque dancer Sugar Ann Spice. Proceeds will go towards Anderson’s surgical bills.

Anderson’s wife, sword-swallower Charon Henning, has had her one share of side-show related medical emergencies; check out this March S&T on local sword swallower injuries for more on her. Anderson’s injury, though, didn’t occur at the side-show, but rather outside it.

The circumstances of Anderson’s injury are weirder than sword-swallowing, glass-walking, and pirate-working combined. John Spitzer, a.k.a. Weirdo Show emcee Professor Sprocket, says that Anderson’s leg was crushed outside the Palace’s first anniversary bash when a D.C. police cruiser made a sudden U-turn, striking Anderson. Anderson and Henning pressed charges couldn’t find a lawyer to press charges. Says Spitzer, “now the District doesn’t have any record of the incident, and the officer in question seems to have disappeared.”

File that one away in your brain’s personal Museum of Oddities, then go check out the real deal at the Palace. “Every penny goes to Johnny and Charon,” says Spitzer. The benefit costs $10 at the door; throughout the show, the audience can also engage in some betting games to help raise additional funds. Be glad it’s going to a good cause: “Never bet against a carny,” warns Spitzer.

The benefit show begins at 9 p.m. tonight at the Palace of Wonders, 1210 H Street NE.

Late last year, Jennifer Durham settled her lawsuit against the District regarding the death of her son, Thomas Jones, who suffered a heart attack while playing basketball inside the D.C. Jail. A video of the incident showed that corrections officers had failed to perform CPR or even the most basic life-saving measures on her son ( Cover Story, “Man Down,” 6/27/07). The settlement provided a six-figure sum to Jones’ young daughter. It wasn’t enough for Durham’s attorney Douglas Sparks. He wanted Department of Corrections officials to meet directly with Durham and prove to her that they’ve made changes.

On March 10, Durham and Sparks met with corrections officials at its headquarters on Vermont Avenue NW, where they were greeted with a surprise: DOC Director Devon Brown had decided to run the session himself. The meeting lasted nearly two hours. Sparks says Brown began the meeting by doing what few officials ever do—he apologized. Another official soon pulled out detailed spreadsheets showing that the entire corrections workforce had been certified in everything from basic first aid to the operation of portable defibrillators—a key issue in Durham’s lawsuit.

“It was the first time in my career—and I’ve been doing this almost 30 years—I’ve ever seen anyone in the DOC, especially in the high level, show such compassion,” Sparks says. “It’s the first time I’ve had them say they’re sorry.”

When it was Durham’s turn to speak, she told stories of her son and talked about what it was like to see the video of him dying on the gym floor. She cried. She came away from the meeting satisfied.

“It made me feel like what [my son] went through, what he went through, it mattered. It made a difference,” Durham said at the time. “You know, I feel pretty good behind it.”