Washington City Paper: Contents for May. 5

Can I Get a Witness?
Prosecutors can offer everything from porch lights to housing to a ticket out of town if you testify at a murder trial. In D.C., that's often not enough.

Cover Story

Sturdy two-story brick row houses line block after block of K Street in Washington's Near Northeast section. One street over, on I, small-time drug dealers still do a little bit of hustling. But the neighborhood has quieted down noticeably since the days when cocaine kingpin Rayful Edmond III ran one of the city's largest drug-selling operations from his house near the corner of Orleans and Morton Places.

In the years since Edmond's 1989 conviction on federal narcotics and racketeering charges, Near Northeast residents have worked hard to take back their streets from drug dealers. On a triangular plot of land at the intersection of 8th and K Streets, where Ronald Curry and Gregory Cain were shot to death 12 years ago as they sat in a car, neighbors have planted tulips. A blue sign with a dove on it reads: "Welcome to Near Northeast."

But the optimism and good will run out when you look past a gate strewn with bouquets of dead flowers at the house--or, rather, what's left of the house--at 1123 K St. NE. Through the windows on the first and second floors, you can see straight back to the charred ceilings and walls. There is no front door. Instead, a blackened shelf that looks as if it once held plates or knickknacks blocks the entrance. Posted on the shelf is a fading orange sign that says: "$10,000 REWARD 1-888-ATF-FIRE."... Continued

Issue of May. 5 - 11, 2000

News and Features

Can I Get a Witness?
Prosecutors can offer everything from porch lights to housing to a ticket out of town if you testify at a murder trial. In D.C., that's often not enough.
Cover Story By Annys Shin
Bad Air Day
Suburban drivers keep polluting the region's air. Now, environmentalists say Metro should buy new buses to clean up their mess.
The City By Samantha Levine
Union Blues
When janitors signed up to work for Catholic University, they didn't expect to take a vow of poverty.
The City By Patrick Tracey
A Sewer Runs To It
The Anacostia River is full of crap. So is anybody who tells you it's D.C.'s next great attraction.
The City By Kevin Diaz
Antiques Night Owl
Real Stories By Vince Morris
IMF'd Up
The Mail By Robert Naiman
Truth Is Stranger...
The Mail By Neil D. Isaacs
Read 'Em and Sweep
The Mail By John E. Vargo

Columns

A Weighty Issue
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Misplaced Priority
City Desk By Robin Bingham
Biting Back
City Desk By Kevin Diaz
Goldeneye
City Desk By Andrew Katz
Primary Education
City Desk By Michael Schaffer
Ward Healer
Loose Lips By Erik Wemple

Eats

Olive Drab
Young & Hungry By Brett Anderson

Movies

The English Impatient
Film Review By Joel E. Siegel
Filles Fatales
Film Review By Arion Berger
Along Comes Mary
Film Review By Mark Jenkins

Music

Hymn and Her
Music Review By Michael Little
Father and Sun
Music Review By Thomas Stanley
Hanna and Her Sisters
Music Review By Virginia Vitzthum

Theater

Home of the Craven
Theater Review By Trey Graham
Blood Lines
Theater Review By Bob Mondello

Arts and Events

Head On
Crash fan Robert Carroll Reed celebrates the transformed machine.
Arts By Glenn Dixon
Orange You Glad
Art Review By Mark Jenkins
Dear Prudence
Artifacts By Jessica Dawson
Keep a Towel Handy
Artifacts By Louis Jacobson
Long Way to Tipperary
Artifacts By Louis Jacobson