DISTRICT BRIEFING
DISTRICT BRIEFING
Organizers have raised $16 million for a Vietnam Wall visitor center.
(By Frank Johnston -- The Washington Post)
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THE MALL
New Pledges for Vietnam Wall Visitor Center
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund announced yesterday that it has received $1.5 million in new pledges toward construction of an underground visitor and education center on the Mall.
The fund's president, Jan C. Scruggs, said Bethesda-based defense contractor Lockheed Martin pledged $1 million and Marathon Oil of Houston pledged $500,000.
With the pledges, the fund said it has secured about $16 million of the $75 million to $100 million it estimates it will need to build the center, to be located near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Groundbreaking is expected in 2010.
-- Michael E. Ruane
POLICE DEPARTMENT
11-Year Officer Pleads Guilty in Child Sex Case
D.C. police officer Kenneth L. Longerbeam pleaded guilty yesterday to traveling to the District to have sex with a teenage boy.
Longerbeam, 39, who was assigned to the 4th Police District, admitted that he proposed the sexual encounter while exchanging text messages with a cooperating witness who was secretly working with D.C. police and the FBI. According to charging papers filed when Longerbeam was arrested Dec. 19, the witness told Longerbeam that he was going to have sex with a 14-year-old boy, and Longerbeam replied, "Kool, when can I join?"
Longerbeam, who lives in Maryland, was arrested after he arrived at a residence in Southeast Washington where he had arranged to meet with the youth, authorities said. The officer, an 11-year veteran, has agreed to resign as part of a plea agreement. Chief Cathy L. Lanier said yesterday that she is moving to take back the pay Longerbeam received while on administrative leave after his arrest.
"Inherent in every officer's oath is the promise to protect others," Lanier said in a statement. "Longerbeam's actions are contrary to everything the Department stands for, and as a result of his guilty plea I am seeking to suspend him without pay."
