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Georgetowner • July 27, 2015

After pleading guilty to videotaping 52 women taking a ritual bath at Kesher Israel synagogue and being sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison, Barry Freundel will head back to the D.C. Superior Court July 31 in a bid for a lesser sentence.

The rabbi’s attorney, Jeffrey Harris, has argued in a motion to the court that Freundel should have been sentenced for one act of video voyeurism rather than for each women he videotaped. His current sentence is 45 days in prison for each of the 52 women he videotaped. Harris made the same argument about the sentence during the rabbi’s May 15 sentencing hearing, but Senior Judge Geoffrey M. Alprin and prosecutors did not accept it. Alprin will preside over the July 31 hearing, and prosecutors have notified Freundel’s victims about the recent legal developments. The Washington Post reports that “In several filings with the court, Harris and prosecutors have sparred over the legality of the sentence,” calling the new argument “unusual.”

To further his motion, Harris said that Freundel is in isolation at D.C. Jail for 23 hours a day due to threats made by other inmates. Sentencing guidelines on voyeurism cases require that Freundel serve at least 85 percent of his term.

Freundel was arrested in early October and charged with videotaping six nude women as they prepared to purify themselves in a ritual bath known as a mikvah. Ultimately, the rabbi plead guilty to charges of videotaping 52 women. But prosecutors say they found evidence of Freundel recording almost 100 other women. They are unable to bring charges on those allegations because the alleged crimes fall outside the three-year statute of limitation for voyeurism.

Read more about the initial charges here, and Freundel’s sentencing here.

Kelly Byrnes •

Police have arrested a suspect in the July 4th stabbing death of a 24-year-old D.C. man in the NoMa-Gallaudet Metro station.

An arrest warrant was issued for Jasper Spires for first-degree murder while armed, following the stabbing, which occurred around 12:50 p.m. Saturday as a Red Line subway train was pulling into the NoMa-Gallaudet station in Northeast D.C.

The victim, identified as Kevin Joseph Sutherland, had no signs of life at the scene, according to fire and emergency service personnel.

A 2013 graduate of American University, Sutherland was served as a secretary in student government and was a former Congressional intern for Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.).  

“[I] am absolutely heartbroken by the tragic loss of intern, staffer and wonderful friend, Kevin Sutherland. I’ve known few as selfless and decent,” Himes tweeted July 5.

Sutherland was employed at New Blue Interactive at the time of his death. The company expressed its sympathies over his passing in a statement made on its Facebook page: “Our thoughts and prayers are with his entire family during this difficult time.”

Authorities believe the attack was random, though it comes just a day after Spires, 18, was released from policy custody for a June 2 robbery. According to Superior Court records, the incident had been amended from a felony charge to a misdemeanor.

Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said she is unsure why the initial charge against Spires had changed. “We are going to look into that investigation and see what happened. It seemed like a solid case. Obviously, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will be looking at it as well,” Lanier told the Washington Post. 

Georgetowner • July 22, 2015

After decades of being labeled a local legend, a Martin’s Tavern booth is now confirmed to be the official spot where future President John F. Kennedy popped the question to Jaqueline Bouvier.

Ambassador Marion H. Smoak revealed that he was enjoying a cocktail in the restaurant the night of the proposal. “After the senator proposed, and she accepted, the news ran through the restaurant. That night we didn’t know his future and what it would bring. In hindsight, it was great fun to witness a part of history,” Smoak said.

For years, Martin’s was said to be the place of the proposal, though only from reports of the staff working at the time. Smoak’s account put skeptics to rest in time to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the proposal June 24.

Robert Devaney • July 16, 2015

“Small business is the heart of America,” said Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans at the Georgetown Business Association’s Leadership Luncheon June 24 at Tony and Joe’s Seafood Place at Washington Harbour.

Businesses, small or otherwise, and their leaders and influencers were on full display at the longtime popular spot on the Potomac. The full list of honorees in room, along with the attendees, made for what was truly a business power lunch.

The event’s biggest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, went to P. Wesley “Wes” Foster, Jr., co-founder of Long & Foster Real Estate. Business Person of the Year was Charles Lawrence of the Secor Group and the Joe Pozell Public Safety Award was given to Metropolitan Police officers Christian DeRuvo and William Peterson. The Art Schultz Communitarian Award went to Leslie Buehler of Tudor Place, while Baked and Wired was named the Business of the Year. New Business of the Year, on the other hand, was awarded to Dog Tag Bakery. The Georgetown Preservation Award went to architect Robert Bell, who is reconstructing the old Georgetown Theater.

Evans also spoke on the D.C. budget and honed in on the $3 million earmarked for repairs to the C&O Canal and a new canal barge — a neighborhood treasure as well as major tourist attraction. The councilman also recalled when Washington, D.C., and its oldest neighborhood were hurting in the 1990s in contrast to today, which he referred to as a “golden age of Georgetown” while also noting the vibrancy of the 14th Street corridor downtown.

Pam Moore, the former president of the Citizens Association of Georgetown, introduced Leslie Buehler, outgoing executive director of Tudor Place, one of the most historic homes in the city with ties to the family of George Washington. Moore noted how residents and businesses “all work together . . . it is a golden age, as Jack says.” Buehler thanked the businesses “for embracing Tudor Place.”

Terry Bell of Salon Ilo introduced architect Robert Bell (no relation), who took on the task of improving “the ugliest building in Georgetown for the last 40 years.” The architect and now owner of the old theater said that the iconic “Georgetown” sign would soon return to be illuminated and hang over Wisconsin Avenue and look “fabulous for the next 100 years.”

At-large Council member Vincent Orange introduced the man of the hour, Wes Foster, who smiled when Orange read out part of Long & Foster’s annual report and said, “These are great numbers.”

Before anything else, Foster thanked the police — and then his wife Betty — before speaking of his 12,000 agents. Known for getting to the point and keep it real, Foster told the crowd, “Thanks for sticking around.” [gallery ids="102124,133745,133743,133748" nav="thumbs"]

Kelly Byrnes •

The former Georgetown home of famed chef Julia Child is now listed for sale at $1.1 million.

The 1,364-square-foot property, located at 2706 Olive St. NW, housed Child and her husband Paul in 1948 prior to their residence in France, where she studied French cuisine. In 1956, after years renting the property to tenants while abroad, the Child’s returned to the home, where the late chef conducted cooking lessons from its kitchen.

The house, built around 1870, boasts four bedrooms, three bathrooms and an aged yellow exterior, and is being sold as is. It’s unknown whether the kitchen has been modernized or still intact from Child’s cooking days nearly 60 years ago.

Though considered a fixer-upper, the house’s history is a major selling point. Before Child’s presence, the builder behind the three-story Colonial, Edgar Murphy, and his family occupied the home for over 40 years until his death in 1913. An African American carpenter, Murphy and his family rented out a separate unit within the space to black tenants to earn extra income, at a time when Georgetown was a neighborhood rooted in African American culture.

Between the history of Murphy’s ties to the house and Child’s culinary reputation which grew there, the dwelling has molded into a local symbol of prosperity, a charm that potential buyers can’t put a price on.

Kelly Byrnes •

Four Georgetown establishments — Lady Camelia Tea Room, Georgetown AMC, Chaia Tacos, and an unnamed Greek restaurant to be located on Prospect Street — have acquired new liquor licenses, the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration announced June 25.

The Administration announced in late May the licenses would be open for application and reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. The announcement came on the heels of license cancellations at M Café, Puro Café, Zenobia Lounge and Pizzeria Uno.

Georgetown’s Moratorium Zone places a number of permit restrictions on area establishments, including a limit to 68 liquor licenses issued to restaurants to allow for sale and consumption of beer, wine and spirits. All Georgetown hotels, as well as businesses located in Georgetown Park, Prospect Place, Georgetown Court and Washington Harbour are exempt from the moratorium.

The moratorium is currently in effect in Georgetown until February 2016 and is one of five neighborhood moratorium zones in the District along with Adams Morgan, Glover Park, and both East and West Dupont Circle areas.

Gary Tischler •

In all the major and epochal events that have occurred over the past few weeks, nothing—not even the SCOTUS decision on gay marriage—seems to have been quite as tumultuous, and quite as dramatically full of rapid change as the political and cultural reaction to the shooting of nine African Americans at the historic Emmauel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Nine people—the kind of people, pastors, religious leaders, community leaders, old, young, and blameless folks, women and men, fathers and grandmothers, all of whom led lives that were admired and inspirational—were killed in the church by a young 21-year-old white supremacist. He sat with these people, members of a bible study group, for an hour, felt their presence and individuality intimately, but no curb, no compassion or empathy, no emotion touched him except the urgency of killing them because they represented everything he resented and hated in the world.

Political leaders at first were outraged—South Carolina governor Nikki Haley’s first response was to emphatically call for the death penalty of the alleged killer who was apprehended and arrested not too long after the murders, but she did not at first embrace the idea of doing away with the Confederate battle flag that flew at the state capitol. Like some others, she insisted that the flag needed to fly free. Republican presidential candidates responded with shock and not a little confusion, wondering how this atrocity could have happened and seemed baffled that it did. President Obama’s initial response was one of strong outrage, and frustration on the issue of guns.

But something else happened—the crime and the killings stunned African Americans, who felt the losses keenly and deeply, like vivid aftershocks from the worst and most violent days of the Civil Rights movement as well as more recent events involving the deaths of black men at the hands of white police officers.

But there were no people raging in anger in the streets. There was grief, lamentation and, shockingly, forgiveness. And this time, they were not alone—the outrage, and perhaps more important, the sense of loss and lost was acutely universal. In South Carolina, , where the South’s most avid secessionist had left the United States of America first as the country moved toward Civil War—white neighbors embraced their fellow African American neighbors in Charleston, weeping and full of grief.

But when the alleged killer’s manifesto fully revealed him to be a white supremacist and racist gnarled and defiant, and when a photograph of him with the confederate flag emerged, there was bi more mystery to motivation—he murdered good and upstanding people in the black community out of sheer hate. And that self-evident fact changed everything.

Governor Haley emphatically called for the removal of the flag from the state capitol grounds. “It is time to move the flag from the capitol” and she was joined in South Carolina by Senator Lindsay Graham, and perhaps more surprisingly and resonant as metaphor, South Carolina State Senator Paul Thurmond, son of the South’s uber-segregationist, the late Strom Thurmond.

The presidential candidate fell in line too, suddenly finding the wisdom to understand that the killings were not a mystery, but inspired by symbols and a warped view of history, including the Confederate battle flag. Businesses were eliminating logos and products embedded with confederate flag logs, Virginia contemplated taking the flag off of license plates.

It was a watershed rush to judgement, which seemed to include questioning the values of Southern traditions, values and history itself. One man interviewed on television, whose house was lathered in walls of confederate flags, wailed about an attack on Southern traditions, courage and values. Told that the Ku Klux Klan had used the flag, he wailed that they “stole it from us, they defiled the flag.” He, like many others, insisted that the flag (and the war) was not about slavery, but about state’s rights.

It seems in many ways a peculiarly Southern thing, this battle over the flag as a battle over the Civil War and how it is remembered and commemorated in the South. But it’s also a wholly American thing, because the war is so ingrained in the nation’s popular culture—there remain millions of people who had seen “Gone With the Wind” over and over again, and its effects should not be minimized.

Thousands—maybe millions—of people, amateur historians, battle-re-enactors—see the war as a series of battles fought bravely and most bravely by the confederate soldiers and their romantic, brilliant cadre of generals and officers—Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Jubal Early, Jeb Stuart, George Pickett, Longstreet and all the others In many minds, the war exists as a series of actions—Pickett’s futile charge, the battle over bridges and ditches, the rebel yell, Stuart’s cavalier cavalry.

To African Americans in the South and all over the nation, the war was about the emancipation of the slaves, which freed slaves, without giving them freedom in their daily lives, especially in the South, which continued slavery by other means with segregation and Jim crow.

In the Washington area, the beltway culture, those symbols from the war and the old south and American history abound and abide still. At an overnight stay last year in Frederick, Maryland, we visited the cemetery where Francis Scott Key is honored and were we were startled to see the statue of a Confederate soldier, with the Confederate flag flying free behind him. Frederick also honors Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney—Scott’s father-in-law—with a statue, as does Baltimore. Taney was the author of the infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision which stated that the federal government could not regulate slavery in territories and that slaves free and not could never be citizens of the United States.

Perhaps the horrible murders in South Carolina might lead to some real conversations, white and black, white and white, black and black, old and young, about the past. Maybe the political air around state capitols will be a little clearer with the removal of that wounding flag.

And maybe not. You can expect the process to be painful and difficult and long. Already, no less an intellectual than Ann Coulter—and others—suggested that perhaps Governor Haley—a staunch conservative—did not fully understand the traditions of the south because she was raised in an immigrant culture..

But that initial reaction—across the country, and from most politicians on both sides of the aisle-was thunderous, in the heat of a battle that has not yet been fought, but will surely continue forward.

Georgetowner •

Dinner & A Movie

June 18th, 2015 at 07:45 PM | 0 | isobel@taapr.com | Tel: 2026258370 | Event Website

Market Common Clarendon will be hosting Dinner & A Movie On The Loop for four consecutive Thursday’s kicking off on June 18. Each week will have a Market Common Clarendon restaurant partner serving dinner for a fixed amount to enjoy during the movie. Movie’s will begin at 8:30 PM, with food available beginning at 7:45 PM.

Thursday, June 18th: Big Hero 6

Address

Market Common Clarendon; 2700 Clarendon Boulevard; Arlington VA 22201

Cooking Light & Health’s The Fit Foodie 5K Race Weekend

June 19th, 2015 at 06:00 PM | $55-$150 | sarahj@breadandbutterpr.com | Event Website

Ready, set, go – To the most delicious 5K race ever! Cooking Light & Health’s The Fit Foodie 5K Race Series is the ultimate celebration of food, fitness and fun. The race weekend is jam-packed with delicious bites and sips, a scenic 5K Race, Finisher’s Village Celebration, interactive demonstrations from acclaimed fitness and culinary talent, Tracy Anderson Method, a Sunday Brunch, tons of giveaways and more! At The Fit Foodie 5K Race Weekend, crossing the finish line has never tasted so good!

Address

Strawberry Mark at Mosaic District; 2910 District Avenue; Fairfax, VA 22031

Summer Lounge at the Shops at Wisconsin Place

June 19th, 2015 at 06:00 PM | isobel@taapr.com | Tel: 2026258370 | Event Website

Summer Lounge at the Shops at Wisconsin Place will be hosting its second live music performance as a part of the Summer Music Series on Friday, June 19 from 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM. Guests will be able to experience a relaxing evening complete with The Christopher Linman Jazz Experience while also enjoying summer food offerings provided by the Capital Grille, Le Pain Quotidien, and Whole Foods Market. In addition, there will also be an Enter To Win, featuring items from your favorite retailers.

Address

5310 Western Avenue; Chevy Chase MD 20835

Millennial Made: Food Face Off

June 19th, 2015 at 07:00 PM | $30 | Event Website

Description: What could be better than an evening of savory cuisine and cocktails? In partnership with Union Kitchen, Millennial chefs will showcase their use of cool gadgets and cooking technology. Featuring live cooking stations, attendees will sample foods from each station and vote to determine which Millennial chef creates D.C.’s “best bite”.
Sponsor: Union Kitchen

Address

1776; 1133 15th St NW

Humane Society Pet Adoption Van Visits Georgetown Library!

June 20th, 2015 at 12:00 PM | FREE | rebekah.smith@dc.gov | Tel: 202-727-0232 | Event Website

Be a real hero this summer — adopt a pet in need! Come celebrate the DC Library’s summer reading program, “Every Hero Has a Story” with a special visit from the Washington Humane Society’s pet adoption van on Saturday, June 20th, from 12-4pm. You can visit with their adorable animals, learn about volunteer opportunities, and even complete a same-day adoption process to take home a new furry friend! All are welcome!

Address

Georgetown Neighborhood Library; 3260 R Street NW

Nordic Jazz Festival 2015

June 20th, 2015 at 04:00 PM | 0-$35 | idaang@um.dk | Tel: 202-304-0402 | Event Website

Nordic Jazz 2015 presents Scandinavia’s top performers in Washington D.C. June 20th – 27th.
The Nordic Embassies, Twins Jazz Club, the Dupont Circle Festival and the Phillips Collection are excited to present the ninth annual Nordic Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C., June 20th – 27th, 2015. Internationally acclaimed performers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden will present the modern sound of Nordic Jazz over the course of 11 concerts.

Address

Twins Jazz; The Phillips Collection; Embassy of Finland; House of Sweden; and Dupont Circle Park

Friends of Rose Park Summer Movie Nights

June 20th, 2015 at 08:00 PM

Bring your picnics, chairs, and blankets for a screening of “Rio 2” at 8 p.m. June 20. Drinks and snacks available!

Address

Rose Park; 26th and O Streets

Sunday Serenity: Yoga in the Park

June 21st, 2015 at 09:30 AM | $5 suggested donation | info@dumartonhouse.org | Tel: 202-337-2288 | Event Website

From June 21 to August 30, Dumbarton House will host a guided yoga session every Sunday from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM in the East Park. The classes are followed by a meditation. Bring a yoga mat and wear something comfy to enjoy a relaxing experience in one of our lovely gardens.

There is a $5 suggested donation to the instructor that will be collected during each class. Reservations are not required but to find out more information and to claim a spot, visit DumbartonHouse.org/events.

Address

2715 Q St NW

Tchikovsky’s 1812 Overture/Emanuel Ax Plays Brahms

June 21st, 2015 at 08:15 PM | Event Website

Tchaikovsky’s triumphant masterpiece complete with cannon blasts, and his romantic overture to Romeo and Juliet, with internationally-acclaimed pianist Emanuel Ax’s “thoughtful, lyrical, lustrous” (The Washington Post) playing of Brahms.

Address

Filene Center; 1551 Trap Road; Vienna, VA 22812

Robert Devaney •

America was again shocked, embittered, if not enraged, after a mass murderer shot nine persons to death in a church during bible study on a Wednesday night, June 17, in Charleston, S.C.

The suspected killer, Dylann Storm Roof, 21, was arrested in North Carolina June 18, as photos of him were viewed around the word as deeply as his mass sins were felt.

The suspect entered Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historically black church on Calhoun Street, to sit near and observe those in prayer and reading the bible. After an hour, allegedly, the hate-filled white racist pulled out his .45 caliber pistol, which he’d gotten as a birthday present, and took away those lives that would be the opposite of his: a reverend, a coach, a librarian, a lovely old lady.

According to the Charleston Courier & Post, Charleston County Corner Rae Wooten identified the victims who died as:

— State Sen. Clementa Pinckney, the church’s pastor;

— Cynthia Hurd, 54, St. Andrews regional branch manager for the Charleston County Public Library system;

— Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, a church pastor, speech therapist and coach of the girls’ track and field team at Goose Creek High School;

— Tywanza Sanders, 26, who had a degree in business administration from Allen University, where Pinckney also attended;

— Ethel Lance, 70, a retired Gilliard Center employee who worked recently as a church janitor;

— Susie Jackson, 87, Lance’s cousin who was named by a relative and was a longtime church member.
relative and was a longtime church member;

— Depayne Middleton Doctor, 49, who retired in 2005 as Charleston County director of the Community Development Block Grant Program;

— Mira Thompson, 59, a pastor at the church;

— Daniel Simmons Sr., 74, who died in a hospital operating room.

“They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely with [about] who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American Dream,” said President Barack Obama, quoting Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., of racist murders a half century earlier, to illuminate a path to a place beyond the Charleston massacre. Next to him somberly stood Vice President Joe Biden before the press June 18 in the White House briefing room.

“Now is the time for mourning and for healing,” the president said. “But let’s be clear: At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it.”

“I say that recognizing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now. But it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it. And at some point it’s going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it, and for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively.”

“The fact that this took place in a black church obviously also raises questions about a dark part of our history. This is not the first time that black churches have been attacked. And we know that hatred across races and faiths pose a particular threat to our democracy and our ideals.”

“The good news is I am confident that the outpouring of unity and strength and fellowship and love across Charleston today, from all races, from all faiths, from all places of worship indicates the degree to which those old vestiges of hatred can be overcome.”

Indeed, services and meeting in prayers happened in the city of the latest mass murder as well as in the nation’s capital as lawmakers joined in prayer. “A church should be one of the safest places on the planet,” said Senate Chaplain Barry Black. “God is near to the broken-hearted, and that would match South Carolina and all of us today,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.).

“And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him, and that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace,” said Obama, invoking King’s remarks about the murder of four black girls at Selma, Alabama, church, in 1964.

The president concluded: “Reverend Pinckney and his congregation understood that spirit.  Their Christian faith compelled them to reach out not just to members of their congregation, or to members of their own communities, but to all in need.  They opened their doors to strangers who might enter a church in search of healing or redemption.”

“Mother Emanuel church and its congregation have risen before –- from flames, from an earthquake, from other dark times -– to give hope to generations of Charlestonians. And with our prayers and our love, and the buoyancy of hope, it will rise again now as a place of peace.”