Friday, August 28, 2009
PUBLIC SAFETY
Fairfax Deputy Chief to Retire
Fairfax County Deputy Police Chief Suzanne G. Devlin, who was the county's first female deputy chief and was acting chief for six months in 2004, is retiring Friday after 33 years as an officer.
Devlin, 55, most recently headed the investigations and operations support bureau. After a three-year stint in the Marine Corps, she joined the Fairfax park police in 1976, became a Fairfax police sergeant when the park police were folded into the Fairfax department in 1983, and later was commander of the Franconia district station and internal affairs. She was promoted to deputy chief in October 2000.
In January 2004, Chief J. Thomas Manger resigned to head the Montgomery County department, and the county Board of Supervisors named Devlin acting chief. During her interim tenure, she single-handedly tackled and arrested a violent man twice her size at Washington Dulles International Airport, and also oversaw an investigation of a car accident involving Gerald E. Connolly, then the board's chairman. Connolly and the board then bypassed her for promotion in July 2004 in favor of another deputy chief, David M. Rohrer. Devlin said she will work as a law enforcement liaison for British Aerospace Engineering Systems.
-- Tom Jackman
Inmate Charged in Pot Smuggling
A St. Mary's County Detention Center inmate accused of having a consensual sexual encounter with an officer there was charged Wednesday with a different crime -- smuggling marijuana into the jail, authorities said.
Charles E. Compton Jr., 22, was charged with possession of marijuana, introduction of contraband into a correctional facility and possession with intent to distribute in connection with a scheme that investigators said did not involve any corrections officers.
Compton was assigned to pick up trash around the facility. In late April, he tried to bring in a bag of marijuana disguised as rubble. Corrections officers discovered it during a routine body search, authorities said.
Capt. Daniel Alioto, the narcotics commander for the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office, said Compton worked with at least two others, who have not yet been charged, to bring the drug into the jail. He said Compton knew where to find the marijuana outside when he went to pick up trash.
In June, authorities named Compton as the inmate who had a sexual relationship with Officer Deborah A. Bartholow. In that case, Bartholow was suspended without pay and was served with a criminal summons charging her with "sexual contact between a corrections officer and a confined inmate."
-- Matt Zapotosky
2 Va. Tech Students Slain in Forest
Authorities in Montgomery County, Va., are investigating the slayings of two Virginia Tech students found in the Jefferson National Forest.
Montgomery Sheriff's Lt. Brian Wright says 19-year-old David Lee Metzler of Lynchburg and 18-year-old Heidi Lynn Childs of Forest, Va., were found by a passerby about 8 a.m. Thursday at the Caldwell Fields campgrounds. Both appear to have been shot, but Wright did not disclose further details.
Wright says Metzler's body was found inside a car and Childs was found outside. Both were taken to the medical examiner's office in Roanoke for autopsies.
The deaths are being considered a double homicide. A suspect has not been identified.
-- Associated Press
Man Found Dead in Bus Depot
An unidentified man about 40 years old was found dead at Metro's West Falls Church bus depot on Wednesday, according to Metro and Fairfax Police officials.
Fairfax County Police responded to a call at 12:09 p.m. that an unresponsive man was sitting at a bus stop, according to police spokesman Officer Bud Walker.
"At this time, there's no evidence of foul play," said Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato.
Asato said it was unclear how long the man, whose identity was still being investigated Wednesday, had been at the bus stop or how he died.
-- James Hohmann
TRANSPORTATION
Weekend Metro Delays Expected
Another weekend of planned summer maintenance work is prompting Metro to advise Red, Orange and Green Line passengers that they should allow an additional 30 minutes of travel time this weekend.
From Friday at 10 p.m. until the stations close Sunday, Red Line trains going both directions will share a single track between Grosvenor-Strathmore and Friendship Heights. Crews are repairing a tunnel, replacing rail and laying new rail fasteners, the agency said. The work will mean that Red Line trains will only run once every 20 minutes between Shad y G rove and Medical Center.
During the same time period, Orange Line trains going both ways will share a track between East Falls Church and Ballston-MU. Crews plan to replace crossties.
On the Green Line, from 8 p.m. Friday until Sunday at 6 p.m., trains will share a single track between Georgia Avenue-Petworth and Fort Totten. As a result, all Yellow Line trains will operate between Huntington and Mount Vernon Square-Seventh Street-Convention Center from 8 p.m. Friday to closing Sunday.
-- James Hohmann
VDOT Plans Lane Closures on I-95
Drivers will face multiple overnight lane closures on Interstate 95 this fall while the Virginia Department of Transportation adds a fourth lane in Fairfax and Prince William counties.
VDOT is widening I-95 for six miles from the Fairfax County Parkway to Route 123.
On Monday and Tuesday, there will be multiple lane closures south of Lorton Road from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Thirty-minute delays are expected.
On Wednesday and Thursday, southbound traffic will shift for bridge widening from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.
From Sept. 8 until late October, one or more northbound lanes will be closed from Route 1 to Lorton Road, Sundays through Thursdays, from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.
On Sept. 21 and Sept. 22, replacement of overhead signs between Route 1 and Lorton Road will close two of three lanes at 10:30 p.m., and all lanes will be stopped for up to 30 minutes after midnight and again between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.
In addition, motorists can expect single-lane closures on I-95 North and South weekdays throughout the fall.
-- Ashley Halsey III
POLITICS
Delegate Pays for Mock Police Raid
Maryland Del. Jon S. Cardin on Thursday paid the Baltimore Police Department $300 as reimbursement for a mock police raid-cum-marriage proposal staged this month on the Inner Harbor.
The Baltimore County Democrat's Aug. 7 proposal became national news after he told fellow lawmakers about it a week later at the summer conference for the Maryland Association of Counties. Cardin and a group of friends were aboard a boat on the Inner Harbor when on-duty marine officers searched it. A police helicopter hovered above.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the $300 tab for the event includes fuel for the boat and helicopter and covers the salaries of the officers involved. Reached Thursday, Cardin confirmed he had paid $300 and declined to comment further.
Cardin, 39, has apologized to Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III and Mayor Sheila Dixon for using police resources and called the incident "one stupid act."
-- Baltimore Sun
HEALTH
Equine Encephalitis in Loudoun
A rare mosquito-borne disease was found this month in a horse in Northern Virginia, officials confirmed yesterday, far away from the Tidewater area of the state where nearly all cases of the disease originate.
The diagnosis of Eastern equine encephalitis in the 28-year-old female pony in Loudoun County was deemed "unusual" by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The horse, which had multiple other medical problems including kidney disease, had not been vaccinated for the disease and was euthanized, officials said.
The disease, which is generally transmitted by mosquitoes, is a close cousin of the West Nile virus. But unlike West Nile, few horses survive the disease and there is no cure. The virus also can affect birds and humans, although the state health department says the risk to humans is low.
The Virginia state veterinarian is encouraging horse owners to vaccinate their horses every six to 12 months against the disease.
-- Derek Kravitz
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