if you know what I mean. He may have been a conservative even before he was mugged.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2003Jan16.html

>>
It Took a Mugging And Police Apathy To Make it 'Home'

By Marc Fisher
Thursday, January 16, 2003; Page B01

For 18 years, John Aravosis was one of those people who live in Washington but don't really live here.

Not that Aravosis stuck to himself. It's just that when he got involved in something, his community was the whole country. He was a staffer for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), then became a lobbyist for the Children's Defense Fund. And Aravosis was a pioneer in cyber-activism, creating stopdrlaura.com, the online campaign against talk-show host Laura Schlessinger.
....
Then, a month ago, while walking from his Adams Morgan apartment to his gym at 8 p.m. on a weeknight, Aravosis passed the 7-Eleven on Columbia Road NW and, seconds later, was jumped by two teenagers.
....
Aravosis called D.C. police, who responded immediately. Witnesses corroborated Aravosis's account. And one of the teens who had been hanging out in front of the 7-Eleven was still there. An officer talked to the boy, who turned out to know the muggers.

But Aravosis says police wouldn't go to the boy's house. One officer said the boy lived in a "[expletive] war zone." One officer harshly asked Aravosis how he knew the attack "wasn't a joke." As it became clear that the police had no intention of following up on the assault, Aravosis, 39, turned into someone who cares about the place where he lives.
....
Now he walks the neighborhood, collecting stories for his new Web site, safestreetsdc.com, which documents "Police Horror Stories" and, Aravosis says, "will keep pressing until there's a specific plan to get rid of cops who don't want to do their jobs."

Aravosis has support from D.C. Council members Jim Graham and David Catania.
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Aravosis won't back down: "I'm not your typical anti-cop guy. I'm a defense hawk, I worked for a Republican senator, I'm Mr. Death Penalty. If people like me are becoming irate, they've got a real problem."
....
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David Catania, DC's only GOP councilman, is both openly gay and a "Log Cabin type." The more of that type, the better.

I had a personal experience with DC's incompetent public services departments back in '95 on the first day of what was supposed to be a great vacation. While bicycling down Wisconsin Ave., I was struck by a hit-and-run driver whom the police first let get away by failing to pursue. I'd broken three ribs, chipped a vertebra and had a serious closed head injury and an abdominal hematoma. When the DCFD arrived on the scene, and placed me onto a stretcher but failed to properly secure it, I fell four feet onto the pavement strapped into it. But it gets better: on the way to the hospital, they actually struck a car! Unbelievable! Thankfully a Montgomery Cty. (MD) ambulance happened by and took over from the idiots who were playing at running things. Later, when it came time to retrieve the police report - yep, you guessed it - one was never prepared!

The more folks who rightfully expose incompetence in public employees - everywhere, actually! - the better as far as I'm concerned.

[quote]Originally posted by gmginsfo:
I had a personal experience with DC's incompetent public services departments back in '95....
Unbelievable!

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No, it isn't.

I don't know anything more about the Aravosis story other than what was in the _Post_ this morning. I don't read every issue of the _Blade_, so I don't know if this story was there as well. If Aravosis is gay, I would not be at all surprised to learn that he was basically ignored by the MPD [Metropolitan Police Department], the DC police.

[ January 16, 2003: Message edited by: twin58 ]

Aren't the MPD the same outfit that supposedly "searched" Rock Creek Park after a long delay in the early months of the Chandra Levy murder investigation, finding nothing, but later on, a jogger actually came across what turned out to be parts of Levy's skeleton in the park? These people have been incompetent for a long time, though I'm told things have improved a bit--or did--in the early, successful years of Anthony Williams's mayoralty, before he started to turn into Marion Berry II (scandals, mishaps, gross incompetence, etc.).

Good call, FT. That they were.

This is the same MPD whose top lieutenant -- and close aide to the then police chief -- instigated a blackmail scheme against patrons of gay clubs a few years back. He identified cars parked nearby that might belong to men with families (cars with child seats / minivans) -- trace the license plate numbers and then attempt to extort money.

As for other services, I think they've improved. We used to hear almost weekly of ambulances getting misdirected and arriving way too late -- not anymore. But of course, the infamous tragic case of late was that EMTs who allegedly refused to treat a cross-dressing male when they discovered that she was a he. The poor guy died. I believe his mother did win some settlement with DC.

As for Mr. Aravosis' political affiliation ... to go from Ted Stevens' staff to the Children's Defense Fund is a strange path -- CDF is very liberal -- several of their staffers went into HHS under Pres. Clinton -- and many of them quit in disgust when they thought Clinton caved in and went too centrist on welfare and health care reform.

[ January 17, 2003: Message edited by: DCBucky ]

Whatever his political affiliation, if he is the person behind stopdrlaura.com, then he is entitled to compliments.