Last week, it was announced that former Metropolitan Police Department Chief Charles Ramsey will be inducted into the inaugural class of George Mason University's Evidence-Based Policing Hall of Fame. George Mason's version of a policing Cooperstown hailed the former chief with a lengthy bio, concluding on its website:

"A nationally recognized innovator, educator and practitioner of community policing, Commissioner Ramsey is known to refocus police departments on crime fighting and crime prevention through a more accountable organizational structure, new equipment and technology, an enhanced strategy of community policing and, since September 11, 2001, new approaches to homeland security and counter-terrorism."

Unfortunately, Ramsey is also known for mass arrests at Pershing Park on Sept. 27, 2002 that had nothing to do with accountable organizational structures and enhancing strategies for community policing. Just as his induction was announced, a magistrate judge in U.S. District was setting up the possibility that Ramsey just might go down in history as the Mark McGuire McGwire of police chiefs. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola announced that he plans to personally question Ramsey—and many other police and OAG officials—in the court's long-running probe into missing and doctored evidence in the Pershing Park case.

At a status hearing yesterday in his second-floor courtroom, Judge Facciola outlined three possible penalties Ramsey and the others could face: perjury, obstruction of justice, and destruction of evidence. In his order outlining the inquiry, Judge Facciola writes that Ramsey and Co. should "be advised of their constitutional right not to incriminate themselves."

Ramsey is definitely not in the clear.

At the conclusion of Facciola's inquest, the entire matter could end up being investigated anew by the Feds. Ramsey has already come under considerable scrutiny for his deposition testimony in which he swore he did not order the mass arrests at Pershing Park on Sept. 27, 2002; several police officials testified that they heard Ramsey give such an order. But the thrust of Facciola's inquiry will focus on the missing or doctored evidence which includes police radio recordings that go blank during the period in which the mass arrests took place, missing video evidence of police activities, and the missing running resume—the official log of all police activities that day. Other bits of a messy discovery process could enter into the investigation.

Walking into Facciola's courtroom yesterday, Ramsey's attorney Mark Tuohey expressed total confidence that his client is no slugger who suddenly came up short under oath like McGuire McGwire. "He has nothing to worry about," Tuohey said. "But he will comply with whatever the court wants."

The magistrate judge wants: Definitive answers as to how so much critical evidence could go missing in such a high profile case. The cases is already deep into extra innings.  The judge is embarking on an investigation that has stymied veteran judges and talented plaintiffs attorneys. The Partnership for Civil Justice, plaintiffs attorneys in one of the Pershing Park cases, first discovered the evidence abuses years ago. Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan went ballistic last summer over their findings. By the end of the year, Retired Judge Stanley Sporkin issued his own report on Pershing Park in which he could not exonerate any police official of wrongdoing [PDF]. Now, it's Facciola's turn.

Facciola, who was appointed to look into Pershing Park this past March, will most likely key on three attorneys who handled or mishandled the case (and the evidence): Office of Attorney General lawyer Tom Koger, MPD's top attorney Terrence Ryan and his deputy Ron Harris. Koger has been removed from the case having already come under scrutiny. The FOP has raised concerns about Ryan. Harris may have penned a false affidavit in the case. Testimony before Judge Facciola is set to begin Oct. 12.

And of course, there's Ramsey. What did he know? When did he know it? And how did evidence—the radio transmissions, the computer files, and the videotapes—get destroyed, lost or altered?

The one thing we know is how the former chief got into GMU's hall of fame. According to Cody Telep, a GMU grad student, Ramsey had been nominated by two professors—one who worked with Ramsey in Chicago, and another who works with him now in Philly where Ramsey is the city's police commissioner. No one from D.C. participated in the nomination process.

Telep tells City Desk that he knows nothing about Pershing Park. And it wouldn't be a matter of particular concern for the Hall. "Our hall of fame is more about rigorous scientific evaluation. It's about using science in policing," he says. "That's not as relevant to the specific qualifications for the hall of fame. I don't know the details of the case so that I can't comment on that."

*file photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Tomorrow Agent Zero will face sentencing for what's, depending on your view, either a practical joke gone very wrong, the worst public-relations campaign in history, or a fine argument against informal gambling. The Great Michael Lee writes the definitive primer on the Hibachi's time in D.C. Which may not be over, if our readers have their way! More from us: Gil's guns, Gil's text messages, Gil's unsuccessful video-game character, Gazo the Pranksta.

Ken Cuccinelli isn't the only hero of the tea party movement. There's the hero who cut Bo Perriello's gas line. Bo's brother, Tom, is a congressman from Virginia who voted yes on the health-care overhaul. Then there's the hero who faxed (faxed?) Rep. Bart Stupak a picture of a noose, and all the nameless heroes around the country who've put bricks through Democratic Party offices across the country. Heroic Mike Vanderboegh, a militia-movement vet who's found the tea-party folks strangely accommodating, encouraged such acts! Philip Rucker's Post article says Vanderboegh didn't respond to questions Wednesday, but Vanderboegh's blog says he just did a lengthy interview with a Washington Post reporter, so I look forward to hearing more from this American hero.

Oh hey, P.S. Suck it Ken Cuccinelli: George Mason reaffirms nondiscrimination policy toward gays.

Man makes guinea-pig hat, faces jail time. His neighbors saw him wearing the hat, which includes the animal's head.

HEY SPEAKING OF THE POST: One of the paper's boldface names stinks up the joint with a widely ridiculed column, the paper's executive editor axes it, there's all kinda inside-baseball media swirl, and the paper's media columnist does...nothing about it? Seriously, where's Kurtz on this?

BUT THEN AGAIN THIS IS NOT A MEDIA COLUMN! It's a morning roundup! Some things that happened yesterday:

• Gay marriage day went off without a hitch! Get it? Is this thing on?
• Caps beat Sabres, Maryland beat Duke, Wizards lost.
• That water main break in Crystal City, the buzz of the office yesterday? The traffic problems it caused have been fixed.
• AMAZING Tom Jackman item about a books-for-crack ring at GMU. GMU's paper broke it, and for some weird reason the Post let Jackman link to the story.

As such, the release states: "some dinosaurs may actually have weighed as little as half as much as previously thought."

"The original equation used by scientists produces fairly accurate results when determining the mass of smaller animals, but when used on larger animals our research shows that many errors have occurred," says Birchard. "The new equation shows that dinosaurs are much smaller than we thought, but there is no mistaking that they were indeed huge animals."

Most interesting:

Birchard and his colleagues realized there was an error when they used the equation to determine the weight of living animals such as a hippopotamus and an elephant and discovered that the equation greatly overestimated the weight of these animals.

We've been estimating dinosaur weight all wrong! Maybe the people at the Creation Museum were right all along. And their dinosaur has a saddle on it!

Photo of Creation Museum president/CEO Ken A. Ham with friend courtesy Answers in Genesis

• George Mason University's economics department (known for its unquantifiable love of freedom) is losing the very smart Peter T. Leeson to the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory at the University of Chicago, where he'll join the likes of Steve Levitt and Kevin Murphy. Leeson is the author of the sure-to-be-funny  Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates. [H/t to Tom at Fr33 Agents]

• Pete Eyre of Bureaucrash observed the anniversary of Ruby Ridge yesterday, and finished up his eulogy quite nicely: "This post touches on lots of factors but they all come down to one thing: That we, as individuals, should be free to act so long as we don’t initiate force against another. If we continue to stand idly by as our freedoms are usurped it’ll soon be too late. Because, as Thomas Jefferson noted, 'When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.'"

• Speaking of speaking up: This year's March on the Pentagon takes place on March 21 (which also happens to be the day that Rita's will be giving out free 10 oz. Italian ices!). Participants are meeting up at noon at 23rd St. & Constitution Ave. The theme is the same as last year: "Occupation is a crime!" Dress accordingly.

• In local news, Michael Perkins of Greater Greater Washington has an insanely thorough breakdown of proposed Metro service cuts. Here's just a taste of the proposed bus cuts: "Eliminate the 60 (Ft. Totten-Petworth) while keeping the 64; the L4 (Connecticut Ave) while keeping the L1 and L2; the N3 (Massachusetts Ave) while keeping the N2, N4, and N6; and the P2 (Anacostia-Eckington) while keeping the P1 and P6. Shorten the 42 bus between McPherson and Metro Center, and the 80 between McPherson and the Kennedy Center."

Have a good weekend, City Desk readers.

Darrow Montgomery / City Paper

College Rag Wrap-up: Your weekly roundup of what’s new(s) in D.C. college papers (and blogs). Each Monday, City Desk summarizes the most interesting stories from college oriented newspapers and blogs in the area. Links are compiled by City Paper intern Ryan J. Reilly, who is an editor at Catholic University’s student newspaper, the Tower.

American University—The Eagle

• The Eagle reports on professors and administrators who are using Facebook to communicate with faculty friends and sometimes students.
• AU continues to remain in good financial health despite difficult economic times, President Neil Kerwin said at an informal question-and-answer session.

Catholic University—The Tower, CUA Tower Blogs

• Two students mugged on "access road" by Metro station.
• Senior drama major won speech contest for her performance of President John F. Kennedy’s speech on civil rights and then-Senator Barack Obama’s May 18, 2008 speech addressing race in America.

Georgetown University—The Hoya, Vox Populi, Georgetown Voice

• Fraternity inductions are "a little creepy,” reports The Hoya in a first person account of the pledge process for Alpha Phi Omega.
• Georgetown cut ties with Russell Athletics after student protests following Russell’s decision to close Jerzees de Honduras, one of its factories in Honduras, when the workers attempted to form a union.
• Georgetown Voice follows a DPS officer on a six hour shift.

George Mason University – The Broadside, connect2mason.com

• George Mason seniors may be looking at grad school as an option because of the state of the economy.

George Washington University—The Hatchet, GW Hatchet Blogs, GWblogspot

• Students reported a bedbug infestation in GW's New Hall prompting the second series of fumigations in residence hall this semester. From the Hatchet: "More than the creatures themselves, however, students said they are bugged by the University's response to the problem." For more on bedbugs, see City Paper's Jan. 28 cover story.
• Hatchet misses photo opportunity: "After months of negotiations with University officials, a new theater company on campus has won the right to produce a show complete with full-frontal nudity."
• Student groups want protection for transgendered GW students. They want to alter the University's anti-discrimination policy to include transgender students, reports the Hatchet.
• Some professors want to limit laptop use in class.

Howard University—The Hilltop

• Howard University Dentistry School served as the location for eager children awaiting their first dentist appointment at the 7th annual “Give Kids a Smile” day held Friday.
• University working to set up recycling program, which has been pushed back multiple times.

University of Maryland—The Diamondback

• From the Diamondback: "For the first time in 11 years, all 10 chapters of the university's Pan-Hellenic Council, which oversees all minority fraternities and sororities, are present on the campus, each chapter representing a piece of history and culture for the university as well as the black community."
• UMD students sent disposable cameras to orphanages in Ukraine to connect the children with sponsors in the United States through their photos, reports the Diamondback. The pictures are posted on Shutters4Scholars.com and are linked to ways to give money to the children who took them.

Did we miss something? Think your University blog or news site should be on our radar? Leave links and tips in the comments box!