“We all Santa today”
In our nation’s capital yesterday, one of Santa’s helpers was shot in the back with a pellet gun while he was delivering toys to children who live in Barry Farm – a district in Southeast DC which is almost all public housing projects. From MyFoxDC;
Xavier Hawkins was leading the way down Stevens Road in Southeast D.C. when someone fired as many as three shots.
The 50-year-old is doing okay Tuesday night — thankful he was hit and not any of the children who were around him. Hawkins was briefly hospitalized before being released in the early afternoon.
The Interstate Van Lines employee was playing the role he plays every year when someone tried to ruin Christmas.
For 22 years, Interstate Van Lines has worked with the Marines to make Christmas just a little bit brighter for the children who live in Barry Farm.
Category: Crime
Barry Farms is in Southeast DC, just outside the Navy side of Joint Base Annacostia-Bolling. A real shit hole. When I was still working at Bolling, I was waiting for a FedEx delivery. The driver came through the visitors gate, and drove straight down the main road and out the Navy gate. The driver called me asking for directions. I asked where he was calling from, and when he said Barry Farms, I told him “Nice knowing you.”
And in other news, in Bloomy’s “gun-free paradise” of NYC, five people were shot, three fatally, at a strip club.
Ho, ho, ho?
I think the strip club shooting was in North Jersey, not NYC. Not that it makes much of a difference.
That’s okay–it happened in Boston overnight, too:
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/12/man_killed_woman_injured_at_dorchester_christmas_eve_party
Peace on Earth, good will, something like that, or so someone forgot.
I see that Anacostia has changed a lot since I was there. The Navy Photo Center is a logistics building, there’s a helicopter landing pad and an air control tower, but no runways, and they still have the sewage farm at the south end of Bolling. I guess the Exchange at Bolling is long gone, too? And that tacky little tavern in the parking lot at NPC? Did that get torn down?
The sewage treatment plant is still there, directly adjacent to the Navy Housing, which is just a coincidence, I am sure. There is a mid sized Exchange and Commissary just south of the main entrance road and Chappie James Blvd. There used to be an enlisted club down by the marina, but after spending several million dollars renovating it, it was torn down shortly afterwards when it was discovered that the building was sinking. It seems that the staff at Facilities Maintenance that knew about the building sinking never told the staff at Facilities Maintenance that contracted out the renovation contract. All of the old wooden housing along the waterfront is gone, with a few exceptions, with new housing put up. The housing isn’t too shabby, but move in of one section was delayed due to mold issues. And now, there is only one chow left on the base, which is down by the Navy side. If you ever happen to be in DC, and need a good meal at a cheap price, the Navy chow hall is a good deal. When I worked over there, a lot of Boy Scout Troops touring DC would bring their kids there for a cheap meal in a safe environment.
Was in the Ceremonial Guard 1980-1982. The club was the 6-5-4 club. Best chow then was the Bolling AFB chow hall. Building 72 had one that was rough. Remember NPC being open. We stood duty at the Anacostia gate in those days. Used to stand the watch with a .45 . There was a space heater in the little guard shack. Had to get the door open and shut fast. If not, you would look down and see cold wharf rats looking up at you! A kid shot some with a .45 and they gave us a panic button. HX1 was there too. The old Anacostia steel mat was on the ground from the airfield but the grass had almost swallowed it by then. Bolling had the mat too, it was grown over too except for certain spots.
I was sitting on the quarterdeck at NPC one summer evening in 1968.
That was when there was still an airstrip there with a grassy infield, and the admin building – I guess that was Bldg. 72, not sure – was the chow hall. The food was pretty good when I was there. Anyway, I looked out the front door of NPC and saw this big critter dragging a full-grown sunflower plant down a hole in the middle of the infield, and told the guy on watch with me ‘Oh, look at the muskrat.’
He looked and said, ‘That’s a wharf rat, not a muskrat.’ It was the size of a ShihTzu. He said that he and his friends used to shoot the wharf rats at Naples to get in some target practice.
That sewage farm used to stink like a hog farm when it got hot in DC, especially if there was an inversion layer floating down the east coast from New York City.
There was one day when a private pilot landed a biplane – I think it was a Steerman – on the runway because he got lost. And there was that time my car’s wire harness shorted out in the middle of the George Washington bridge during morning rush hour, and one of the guys I worked with stopped and put it out with a fire extinguisher and yanked the wires off the battery terminals, then gave me a ride to work. It was a g-dawful wickrebill Dodge something or other, just a piece of junk. I replaced it with a Chevy Impala V-8 station wagon.
Good times.
Stayed at the Bolling Inn a few years ago, and it was quite a pleasant experience. Picking up some of our party at the Anacostia Metro station was not one of the high points of the visit.
Too bad that the club overlooking the Potomac is now gone. It was a great spot to meet and greet. Ah, yes. We had some good times that year in DC.
The beer joint at the marina, The Slip Inn (get it?), is a nice place to get a frosty brew after work, especially during the summer when the patio is open and they have a band playing. On part of the plot where the enlisted club was located, they built a Coast Guard facility. Seems kind of stupid since a building that was sinking had to be torn down was only a few hundred feet away, but hey, it’s only taxpayer money.