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Potomac Confidential
With Marc Fisher
Post Metro Columnist
Thursday, Oct. 3, 2002; Noon ET
Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.
In his weekly show, Washington Post Metro columnist Marc Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard on a busy and unnerving day, with five murders in Montgomery County and a manhunt underway for the shooter. I'll pass along whatever comes in during our hour together.
Today's column looks at the search for a site for a baseball stadium in the District or northern Virginia. Tuesday's column focused on Ali al-Ahmed, a McLean resident who is leading a crusade for reform in his native Saudi Arabia. And Sunday's column examined the Maryland governor's race and last week's mudfest of a debate.
Let's see what's on your minds...
Derwood, Md.:
How long do you think it will be before this morning's shooting spree in Montgomery County will become an issue in the governor's race?
Marc Fisher: Probably a matter of hours. Crime was already an issue; in fact, just about an hour ago, a bulletin on Ch. 9 about the shooting spree was followed immediately by the latest Bob Ehrlich ad, in which Kathleen Townsend is bashed for the state's high crime rate. But I think both candidates will have the sense to remain silent until this guy is caught.
Washington, D.C.:
What's going on with the shootings in Montgomery County?
Marc Fisher: A number of white delivery trucks are being stopped all around the county, as police try to follow on the description provided by witnesses. Schools in the county are in Code Blue, which means that all outdoor activities are canceled and morning kindergarten students are being held in for lunch. Afternoon kindergarten is canceled.
Former Chicagoan in DC:
Mark -
Agreed with your column today. I would love to have a baseball stadium in D.C. As a former Chicagoan I remember going to Wrigley Field every year with my dad. Of course the Cubs always lost, but sitting in the stands eating hot dogs singing with Harry Carey still brings a wave of nostalgia. And riding the El to the ballgame was quite an experience for a nine-year-old suburban girl. Now all we need is a team ...
Marc Fisher: There are all manner of rumors and theories about how this will play out this fall. It seems clear that nothing of substance will happen until a few weeks after the World Series ends, but the immediate fate of the Montreal Expos will probably be determined not much beyond that. Travel schedules and other arrangements for next season have to be made fairly soon.
The notion that the team might be sent to another city for one interim year seems too dumb even for Major League Baseball, so the smart money has the Expos staying put for next season and moving elsewhere in 2004.
Alexandria, Va.:
In your column today you say, "The pent-up passion for baseball in this town in palpable." And yet, according to your own newspaper there were no radio broadcasts available for the first two days of the major league baseball playoffs and only one game today is scheduled for radio broadcast.
Is this your idea of "passion" for the sport?
Marc Fisher: Quite true, but I don't see how that reflects any lack of interest on the part of Washingtonians. Rather, it shows the boneheadedness of Clear Channel, the radio behemoth that owns so many of our local stations. Checking radio listings in other cities, even those with major league teams, I don't see that there's any more coverage there.
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.:
Hi there --
Do you know anything about why there have been loud, low-flying helicopters (I believe) circling Capitol Hill lately? I know there were several aircraft hovering over the Hill on Sept. 11, 2002 (and of course in the period following 9/11/01) but I can't figure out why they are starting up again. It's really making me nervous. Thanks!
Marc Fisher: If it was happening last week, that was likely the extensive police helicopter action surrounding the anti-globalization protesters who were in town.
Forest Glen, Md.:
I am appalled at the New Jersey State Supreme Court.
It's in black and white - a party has 51 days to change their nominee. The election is less than 51 days away now. Over 1000 absentee ballots have been sent out!
The law is extremely clear on this. I don't understand why the Democrats are allowed to change the rules just to benefit themselves.
Marc Fisher: The court ruling, made primarily by judges appointed by former Gov. Christy Todd Whitman, a Republican, determined that the desire to have parties fully and accurately represented on the ballot outweighed the day limits in the law. Seems reasonable enough, though surely the Dems had plenty of opportunity to make this move within the law's limits.
Wheaton, Md.:
Despite all the theoretical discussion, when there are shootings in the neighborhood, people want action, but I haven't heard anything that is being done to catch the shooters. This should be a good issue for November.
Marc Fisher: Well, the entire Montgomery police force is out searching for this vehicle. What more would you have them do?
Dupont Circle:
Re: the shootings, are there any patterns being drawn among all the victims, demographically speaking?
Marc Fisher: No pattern seems evident thus far. The victims appear to be a mix of ages, sex, ethnicity and location and police say there is no apparent link among them.
Downtown D.C.:
Shooting today -- do police suspect terrorism?
Marc Fisher: No, not as we've come to understand that word. But of course any shooting spree is a form of terrorism.
Arlington:
On B3 of this morning's paper, there was a little blip about the cost of the respective baseball sites. When they referenced the Mt. Vernon site, are they talking about Mt. Vernon, Va. or a section of D.C?
Marc Fisher: No, it's a reference to the Mt. Vernon Square section of Northwest Washington--Mt. Vernon Square is that place where New York and Massachusetts avenues come together, between 7th and 9th streets, just north of the old convention center and immediately south of the new one.
Washington, D.C.:
So you really think that you can feel the desire for baseball in this city? You don't think this is merely a white upper crust desire of NW D.C? The whole city really wants such a silly thing?
Marc Fisher: No, my sense is that this is a broad and truly diverse cross-section of the area's population, including many people throughout Virginia who crave the state's first professional sports franchise, many people in the District and Maryland who long ago tired of the drive up to Baltimore, and--most important for Major League Baseball--a large black fan base, including a number of potential partners in an ownership group, something that the sport has been missing for years and which it needs.
Arlington, Va.:
Actually, I live right over by the Pentagon, and the helicopter action has been wild lately -- tons of them flying low at night. Also, there's been a lot more noticeable fighter jet activity in the past week or so. Just a comment from the ground. I don't think it has anything to do with protestors.
Baseball in D.C. -- yeah! I wish they'd let all the baseball fans vote on the site. That site you chronicled in the column this morning sounds primo ... and it's right near my office!
Marc Fisher: Sorry for the sluggishness today--the computers are acting up. The tech folks say it's a nationwide problem with Uunet.
Come to think of it, I have been hearing more jets lately, and I had assumed that was the resumption of the combat air patrols, but I don't know. Anyone?
Washington, D.C.:
Why are they building a new convention center? The current one seems just fine. (I'm new to the area). And what will become of the current one, once the new one is complete?
Marc Fisher: Convention centers are in a never-ending battle to see who can be the biggest, and the big players in the convention biz--the huge assemblages of doctors, lawyers, industry groups and so on--want ever-larger buildings. DC's center is woefully outdated; the new one, when it opens, will be one of the nation's largest, but only for a brief period. New ones being planned elsewhere will soon be much bigger. And so it goes.
Clifton, Va.:
Can a new stadium be built at the old convention center site?
Marc Fisher: That's the natural and best use of that site, but the experts say it's not big enough, and the parking lot immediately north of the old center is already a construction site for an office complex.
Washington, D.C.:
I think there are many D.C. residents that are opposed to spending millions of dollars to build a baseball stadium. There are pressing problems in this city, such as a mediocre school system, lack of adequate low-income housing, dreadful fire and ambulance service which could use the money. Also, the Sports Commission cannot be trusted. Look at what they did to the residents of Kingman Park during that auto race!
Marc Fisher: Absolutely right. The city should not spend a nickle on the stadium. There are plenty of examples of private money being used to build stadiums and that's likely what would happen here. The city can and should provide the kind of infrastructure support that it gave for the MCI Center, and the mayor and council have already said that that money will not come from general funds but from a dedicated source such as a stadium or hotel tax.
Derwood, Md.:
In Montgomery County, all political debate comes back to the InterCounty Connector (ICC) issue. Which of the following arguments do you think will appear first:
Seeing as the shooters were able to successfully flee in spite of how horrendous county traffic is, imagine how much more crime there would be if the ICC had been built ...
If MoCo had the ICC, the police could've gotten there faster, and the suspects would have been in custody by now...
Hmmm, maybe I should get a job writing standardized testing questions.
Marc Fisher: Man, you should work for the candidates--linking the ICC to the shooting spree is political genius.
Silver Spring, Md.:
Bob Ehrlich's position on gun control couldn't have possibly been more vindicated by what happened this morning. I don't want to politicize a tragedy, but in fact this is what happens when innocent people aren't allowed to carry a gun to defend themselves ... they become prey to murderers.
This is the real reason why Townshend has been dropping in the polls ... people have had enough of this. This is not a political issue, nor is it an NRA issue. It is about the Second Amendment and the right of someone to defend himself/herself.
Marc Fisher: Somehow, I do not think that is how this will play out in Montgomery County. Quite to the contrary, this will make Ehrlich's emphasis on gun rights seem even more bizarre. Here's a Republican who can be totally secure about his base, but whose only prayer of winning is to reach out to moderate Democrats in Montgomery and Prince George's, where gun control is as close to a common faith as exists. So what does he do? He makes a big show of his opposition to existing state gun laws. Not too bright.
Kensington, Md.:
Mr Fisher,
Would you explain, please, why Washington Post reporters are observing a byline strike, what your opinion of it is (without getting yourself into trouble), and why you, for instance, among other columnists and a very few staff writers are not observing the strike? Thank you.
Marc Fisher: The union that represents the paper's reporters, photographers and other news employees is this week staging its second byline strike of the past few months. The union says it wants to embarrass the newspaper and draw public attention to the fact that union and management have not reached agreement on a new contract. The main sticking points are money and the company's desire to make it easier for employees to quit the union.
I, along with about half the newsroom, do not belong to the union. I chose to run my column as usual because I believe that opinions in the newspaper should always have a name attached to them. Some columnists took vacation this week; others, primarily in sports, have gone ahead and written their columns without their names on them.
As in any workplace, there's a wide variety of views here about the union and management. I find both sides worthy of criticism and I don't see any reason to take the dispute to our readers. For those who are interested, a good and complete account of the dispute appeared on the front of our Business section on Monday.
Washington, D.C.:
Marc,
Kudos to you for not taking part in that ridiculous strike. I'd say 98 percent of the readers don't even notice that the bylines aren't there, and out of the two percent that does, barely any of them care.
Marc Fisher: That's my sense as well; until this chat, I had not heard word one pro or con from a single reader--not one call, email or letter. And you all are hardly a shy bunch on most topics.
washingtonpost.com:
Five Killed in Montgomery County Shootings (Post, Oct. 3)
Arlington, Va.:
I see you have once again disregarded the byline strike among Post writers. I'd love to hear your rationale for this decision and your thoughts on being virtually alone in using a byline. I'm hoping it's something more thoughtful than an anti-union stance similar to your dismissive attitude toward, let's say, soccer.
Marc Fisher: I don't know whether it's any more thoughtful than my soccer position. I discussed above my belief that opinion columns ought to say whose opinion they are expressing; that seems a worthy principle to me. Obviously, others disagree.
By the way, that piece outlining the cause of the strike appeared in the Post on Tuesday, not Monday as I said above.
Re: Silver Spring, Md.:
"This is what happens when innocent people aren't allowed to carry a gun to defend themselves ... they become prey to murderers."
Oh, please. These shootings have apparently happened so quickly that people on the scene don't even know what happened. Hardly time for anyone to defend themselves in any way.
Marc Fisher: Yes, it's very hard to imagine how arming the populace would have done anything to make the streets safer in this instance. These victims appear to have been chosen because they were the easiest targets at that moment; at least a few of them were busy pumping gas or otherwise going about their morning errands.
Wheaton, Md.:
Marc, I am one of the "moderates" that you refer to in Montgomery County, and guess what? Townshend just lost my vote. Gun control just won't cut it when you got nuts like this running around picking off people left and right.
Marc Fisher: OK, so if you're Ehrlich, do you come down hard on Townsend for this? I don't see how. But of course that won't stop both sides from using this for political advantage, even if we as yet have no idea how this person obtained his weapon.
Gaithersburg, Md.:
How on earth would carrying a gun help me protect myself from a lunatic who shoots me from across the street? Channel 9 is reporting that the woman in Kensington was killed by a gunshot from the other side of Connecticut Avenue -- even if she had twenty guns with her, she couldn't have saved herself from that kind of random violence. I'd rather know how this lunatic got the gun that he's killed 5 people with.
Marc Fisher: Well said.
Washington, D.C.:
Marc, thanks for your sensible reply to the gun control opponent. Regardless of one's position on this issue, it seems FAR too early to be making judgments that pedestrians with guns could have prevented this. Given that apparently no one even got a license number on the suspected vehicle, how likely is it that a witness or victim with a gun could have helped?
Marc Fisher: I've got about a dozen responses very much along the lines of yours, so I'll sprinkle in a couple, but for those of you who might be taking the public's temperature on this, suffice it to say that yours is the overwhelming position on this.
Bethesda, Md.:
Saddam, Osama and Ariel should be taking notes right now based on what's happened to this city in the wake of the Montgomery County shootings.
Marc Fisher: Well, that's an interesting question. How much reaction is overreaction? Should the kids be kept locked down in their schools? That move by the Montgomery system seemed reasonable this morning, but then we heard that the D.C. schools followed suit, without a shred of evidence that the shooters were in the city or headed this way. That seem going overboard to me.
On the other hand, it probably makes sense not to be out and about on the streets in the immediate area where these shootings took place. Or does anyone feel otherwise?
Vocabularian in D.C.:
No, shootings are not automatically "terrorism." I realize it's trendy these days to call anything bad and scary we don't like "terrorism," but that doesn't make it correct. If someone is running around Montgomery County shooting people to make some political point or strike fear in our hearts over a perceived injustice, they're a terrorist. If it's a lunatic out for blood, it's awful, it's tragic, but it's not terrorism.
This abuse of the word started last year, and when I heard someone (who sounded like a nice, well-meaning person) describe child abuse as "a form of terrorism" I personally have had enough.
I would like to live in a society where words actually have meanings.
Marc Fisher: Agreed. But what is terrorism? We can probably agree that it requires a political element--violence designed to spread fear and to bring attention to some political cause. In this case, that doesn't appear to be the case, but we really have no idea yet.
Somewhere, USA: Innocent People aren't allowed to get guns? I don't see how today's shootings can turn into a pro-gun issue. How is a gun in your handbag going to defend you against a completely surprise shot from a van driving by you at the post office? How would a gun in your nightstand help you out on a lawnmower? The only defense is catching the shooter.
Marc Fisher: Quite right. There were some angry would-be vigilantes on the tube earlier today, threatening to go on out there and catch these guys. Police quickly urged people not to do that, but to call them if they see this white delivery truck. The last thing we need is a wild, wild west scene on Rockville Pike.
Rockville Pike:
Just want to give kudos to my employer, UCG, which had pizza delivered for nearly 500 people so we wouldn't have to go out for lunch in the wake of the shootings.
Marc Fisher: Smart move--keeps the roads clear for the police to do their work. Good for morale too. Well done.
Somewhere, USA:
Re: Shooting: I work in an office building very close to where one of the shootings happened. All staff have been instructed not to leave the building.
Marc Fisher: Good, but what happens later today if the shooter has not been found?
School closings:
Not only Montgomery County and D.C., but Fairfax and Arlington have followed suit, and canceled all outdoor activities! Now, logically, I feel this is ridiculous, but as a parent, I applaud the decision!
Marc Fisher: This is certainly a better decision than the panicked closings that we see all too often when it starts to snow.
Vienna, Va.:
"Silver Spring" is correct about Ehrlich. Townshend, especially after today, is going to be in serious trouble if she doesn't modify some of her positions on gun control.
Her slide in the polls should have already started to wake her up. I almost wish I could vote for Ehrlich, but unfortunately I can't.
Marc Fisher: You're probably right that it would play out that way on your side of the river, but Montgomery is different, as the Van Hollen-Morella congressional campaign is making quite clear. From what we're hearing here today, I'd look instead to see Townsend increase her calls for stricter gun laws.
Montgomery County, Md.:
I think that school lockdowns in D.C. are not overboard. Considering that upper Montgomery County schools are much farther away than some D.C. schools, it makes perfect sense to me. Plus, all that is happening is kids aren't going outside. That happens on rainy days as well.
I am just glad there is something in place that the schools were able to act quickly, without too much scrambling.
Marc Fisher: Yes, this Code Blue system is a direct result of the Columbine shootings, and most school systems in the area have similar systems now.
We're out of time. Just one more...
Germantown, Md.:
I wondered that same question regarding the children being locked in at schools. Great preventive move, in Montgomery County, but eventually they should go home!
BTW -- Sure wish Van Hollen had run for governor instead -- I don't like Townsend very much, but I like her better than Erlich.
And I like Connie Morella and Chris Van Hollen a lot (politically speaking).
Marc Fisher: One thing that will help later in the afternoon is for folks who do not have kids to pick up at schools to stay off the roads, because many parents who ordinarily rely on school buses will likely show up at schools.
Fairfax, Va.:
Marc -- I agree that we don't need a Wild West scene on Rockville Pike, but can the police really be depended upon? Their response is quite often unimpressive. Add to that the problems trying to find one white van in a county with some half a million cars in it. I don't think they will be able to do it on their own. I'm not going to take either a gun or no-gun position here, but sometimes the police alone don't have the resources for this kind of stuff.
Marc Fisher: True, it's worth raising the possibility that this van got out of town several hours ago. But what's the alternative approach?
We're extending the show for a few more minutes because of the overwhelming load of questions and comments in the aftermath of these shootings.
Washington, D.C.:
I saw a suspicious white van driving in the near White House vicinity. It would stop pull over and drive slowly and pull over again, all the while the guy driving was looking around. It had some black lettering on the side (some company name). This all happened on the same street sidewalk and same street on Pennsylvania Avenue. Question is why do we not have a more clear description of what this van looks like? Maybe then we will be able to catch this person. Who's to say that this person is not already in D.C. or Virginia? The police need to provide more of a description, so that the public can help.
Marc Fisher: The cops have given out as complete a description as they have, which just goes to show how quickly these events happened and how quickly the shooter pulled away. You can't give out more information than you have.
University Park, Md.:
Overreaction? How can that be? These shooters have a car. They could be anywhere. We know where they were, not where they are or will be.
Marc Fisher: True, but how far do you extend the cautionary measures? Is there cause to lock down schools across the river? If you do it in Fairfax, should you do it in Baltimore?
Rockville Pike, Md. also:
To the Rockville Pike poster - it's great that your company had pizza delivered, but because of the big orders coming into the Armand's on Rockville Pike, they stopped taking orders (like the one I tried to place) in order to stop the backlog. (p.s. I'm stuck inside on Rockville Pike, too).
Marc Fisher: Try other cuisines. Send an emissary out to a place that doesn't deliver. Pool the food you have in-house. Start a diet.
Montgomery Village, Md.:
Why do you keep referring to a van? The news reports have all said SUV type delivery truck, possibly Isuzu.
Marc Fisher: There's been considerable slopover in the use of "van," "truck" and "SUV" by both police and media on this, and earlier the term "box truck" was being used. The last police statement I saw used "delivery truck."
Somewhere, USA:
Wild West?: Mark you're still claiming that people citizens with guns will lead to Wild West shootouts? This has been proven untrue everywhere they have enacted concealed-carry laws. In fact it's been the opposite, crime rates in those states have dropped at greater rates than those without them.
Marc Fisher: Well, I've got gun debaters on both sides of the issue galore, but we're going to wrap this up.
Silver Spring, Md.:
It's interesting to note that national news sites like AP and Yahoo news have the Montgomery County shootings well down on the list of stories. I guess this type of random violence is so common that it doesn't rate national coverage.
Marc Fisher: It's an essentially local story in that its impact is only felt here, where we live. And yes, it is a common enough event that people living hundreds of miles away would likely do little more than shrug and say, Glad it wasn't here.
Thanks for spending the hour here. Let's hope the police find this guy. And let's hope for something better to talk about next week.
washingtonpost.com:
That wraps up today's show. Thanks to everyone who joined the
discussion.
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