In an memo issued June 23, Attorney General Peter Nickles addressed two issues: the use of city-owned cars in Department of Motor Vehicles driver tests, and the use of city employees' own private cars while on government business.

Regarding the former, the memo [PDF] notes that as of Aug. 1, DMV "will no longer use government vehicles for its driver's tests." That, Nickles writes, is due to "weak indemnification language" in the waivers the test-takers have to sign---those require the driver to take responsibility for any damage to the cars, unless they are "not financially capable of doing so." Such a policy, Nickles writes, "makes it virtually impossible for the District to successfully obtain reimbursement" in the case of an accident.

This, of course, poses the question: How are unlicensed drivers supposed to find a car to take their test in? And, even if they can, how are they supposed to get the car to the test site?

LL posed those questions to the mayor's office yesterday; he has yet to receive any explanation.

As far as the latter issue goes, D.C. employees have long been allowed to use their personal cars on government business, then collect a mileage-based reimbursement for the use. The problem, Nickles wrote in last week's memo, is "a recent increase in claims against the District involving motor vehicle property damage by District employees." Add to that the new Zipcar-based fleet management system and "current budget constraints to pay damage claims," and you've got a no-brainer: Nickles says that "effective immediately supervisors should not approve the use of private vehicles by District employees, except in rare instances where doing so is absolutely necessary."

But that move raised the hackles of at least one employee union. Johnnie Walker, president of AFGE Local 383, says "a train wreck is going to happen."

In particular, he says, caseworkers for the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, the Department of Mental Health, the Department on Disability Services, among others, will find it harder to do their jobs.

"The District, historically, has never had enough government vehicles for employees to do the government's work," Walker says. "Workers have always used their personal vehicles."

And the alternatives aren't going to work, he says: "They're asking the employees to utilize Metro and bus service. If this was Manhattan, I would be all for it, but the Metro system does not get them to their necessary site visits." As for the Zipcar system, he notes that the availability of Zipcars around DDS headquarters, downtown on 15th Street NW, "is limited."

Nickles apparently heard some of those concerns: In a followup memo released today, he backed off a bit, saying that "reliance on employees' use of personal vehicles for official transportation may be necessary and justified under some circumstances."

In today's memo, Nickles says the city "will be re-evaluating the policies and procedures that currently apply to the use of personal vehicles for official business and may implement additional requirements with respect to that process." In the meantime, D.C. employees can keep using their own cars where other modes of transportation "are not reasonably available."

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is advising motorists that the 2600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, NW is closed to eastbound traffic because of a sinkhole. A square hole, approximately 4 feet by 4 feet, and 5 feet deep, has developed in the roadway near the bridge over Rock Creek (see attached photo).

DDOT crews are on the scene to make repairs. They are also working with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to try and reopen a lane for eastbound traffic, but delays are likely and motorists are advised to take alternate routes if possible

Any readers got pics?

UPDATE, 5:35 P.M.: WUSA-TV has a photo.

Woman In Cadillac, 1996

Drag Race, 1994

Rats hanging out in cars and eating essential parts is a common enough problem in the District of Columbia. As City Desk previously chronicled, it happens in Adams Morgan. It happens at 15th and U. Kathryn Kailian, an esthetician who lives in Dupont Circle, had to take her car in six times for service because of rat damage. At one point, she submitted a claim for the $1,200 her dealership charged to completely re-wire her vehicle. "Our insurance company dropped us," she says.

Fed up, Kailian Googled for solutions and found coyote pee. She ordered a bottle of it on the Internet, sprayed it on her engine, and hasn't had a problem since. One bottle will last her "for years" since she only spritzes every few months. The smell dissipates pretty quickly and the rats have left her alone, despite the fact that she parks in an alley with Dumpsters filled by Five Guys, Chipotle, Cosi, and other delicious-to-rats restaurants.

But how does a seller of coyote piss collect coyote piss?

For the answer, I turn to the self-described "peeman," Ken Johnson, who has been in the urine business for more than 20 years. Johnson, 57, has a wife, three daughters, and a nice house in Maine, all supported by the sale of animal waste.

He asserts the products at predatorpee.com---whether from wolf, bobcat, fox, or mountain lion---are the real stuff, not synthetic, and not dressed-up dog pee (although dog pee is for sale, too, to help Rags figure out where he should go). How it works is only slightly mysterious.

Johnson has contracts with zoos and wildlife preserves "all over the country" whose employees collect animals' pee, mostly in drains inside the exhibits. The mysterious part is where these places are. Johnson doesn't like to get specific. "We've run into problems with PETA people," he says.

His site cautions that all of the suppliers are regulated by state and local agencies and that the animals are treated humanely. He says in a phone interview that no one is pumping them with water or Budweiser to make them go.

Basically, it's a moneymaker for nonprofits, a moneymaker for Johnson, and a solution for people, like Kailian, who've had it. In Florida, coyote pee wards off iguanas. In Japan, wolf pee keeps wild boar out of rice paddies. And for anywhere there are "unwanted people or animals," Johnson's newest product is Skunk 'Em, a proven agent to stop loiterers, he says. What works for what pest depends on the food chain. For example, somewhere inside an urban rat's brain is a primal fear of a coyote, even though that coyote probably never roamed anywhere near where the rat has ever lived.

As for making his living from piss, the Peeman's got a healthy sense of humor about it (his daughters, however---ranging in age from 15 to 32---are pretty much mortified). After fielding the question about how he gets the pee more times than he can recall, he created a spot on his site that details "How I Became a Urine Collector" by "P. Catcher." It runs alongside a testimonial written from the coyote's perspective.

Trained as a marketer, Johnson acquired the company in 1986 from a former client. Back then, the products were bought primarily by hunters to attract deer. But Johnson started noticing that people in nonrural areas were buying his products---suburban gardeners were an early indication of wider applications.

Then there was the spike Predatorpee got when Dave Barry included bobcat pee in his annual gift guide, which runs in the Washington Post Magazine. "People wanted to buy it for their lawyers, for their ex-wives," says Johnson.

And then, Al Gore invented the Internet and Predatorpee began flowing like never before.

These days, the urine is sold exclusively online and comes in several forms. A spray bottle of coyote piss runs $25.99, plus S&H.

Johnson has an office/warehouse on his 40 acres outside of Bangor, a good distance form the house. He's become desensitized, to some degree, to the smell. "Probably more so than my wife," he says. "She knows when I've been working with Skunk 'Em."

We---OK, well really my husband. It's his car. I take the bus---took the car to the dealership in Northern Virginia which quoted us a price: $2,000. The door, they said, would have to be replaced. Seemed not quite right, so we said no thanks and continued to drive around with a dented door and window that would not go down. When, on occasion, I needed to spit out my gum, I would instruct my husband to roll down his window and then we would see if I had good aim. These are fun times in the car.

Then Jerry came into our lives. Jerry pulled up just as we were about to leave and told us he could fix our door, right there, in about 30 minutes, for $275. We were skeptical, but Jerry told us we could leave the car locked, we could stand right there and watch him work, and we didn't have to pay him until he was done. In cash, natch.

Jerry also told us---after we said yes---that he's been working on cars since he was 10. He also said that he's been working with Jim, the owner of Jim's Mobile Auto Body, for two years and Jim let him have the tools over the holiday to make a little extra scratch. Jerry wanted to take his wife somewhere nice for their 11th wedding anniversary.

Jerry started pounding on our door, right there on Biltmore Street NW, and put some sort of suction-thing on it. And dang if it didn't work. The window went down. The door was no longer dented. He sanded it, slapped on some navy primer and told us how to get the exact color of paint we'd need. Then he gave us his card and told us he'd come back to paint it. Right there on Biltmore again, or wherever else we find a spot in the Adams Morgan parking wars.

So screw you, Dealership. Oh, and if you want to find your own Jerry, sit in your car and see if he comes along. Or try Craigslist. I'm fairly certain this is him.