Morning Notes
Arlington’s ‘Bicycle Man’ Dies — Arlington resident Randy Lokke, 62, died late last month. Lokke was known as a prolific follower of local high school sports, riding his bike to games in and around the District. Lokke was a graduate of Wakefield High School. [Georgetowner]
Ovie Returns to Arlington — Alexander Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals teammates are back on the practice ice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Ballston. The Capitals and other NHL teams are expected to begin a 48-game regular season on Jan. 19. [Washington Post]
Chick-fil-A Offers Free Breakfast – D.C. area Chick-fil-A restaurants, including the locations in Ballston and Crystal City, are offering free breakfast entrees through Jan. 30 to those who make “reservations” online. [Chick-fil-A]
Catalog Opt-Out Service Saves Paper — Arlington County says Arlington residents have saved 35,855 lbs of waste by participating in the county-sponsored “Catalog Choice” service. The free service allows residents to opt out of unwanted mail, catalogs and phone books. [Twitter, Arlington County]
Arlington Couple Promoting Phone Holder — An Arlington couple who spent several years and $25,000 to design “DashIT,” a car dashboard hold for smart phones, is selling and promoting the gadget at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. [Washington Business Journal]
Flickr pool photo by GmdVT. Hat tip to Brendan Lilly.
Morning Notes
Arlington to Hold Online Snow Chat — Dave Hundelt, Arlington County’s Streets Manager, will be answering questions about snow removal online today (Thursday). The discussion is scheduled from noon to 1:00 p.m. [Facebook]
Metrobus Driver Arrested at Pentagon – A Metrobus driver was arrested by U.S. Marshals at the Pentagon Wednesday morning. The driver, of the 9E Pentagon-Huntington line bus, was wanted in connection with a 2010 murder. [Washington Examiner]
Joe Allbritton Dies — Joe L. Allbritton, owner of Arlington-based WJLA (ABC 7), NewsChannel 8 and Politico, has died. Allbrittion, whose initials are the call letters of WJLA, was 87. [Politico]
Arlington Ranks Sixth in Household Income — Arlington County had a median household income of $98,060 in 2011, which was 5.1 percent higher than a year prior, according to new census figures. Arlington’s 2011 median income is the sixth-highest of all counties in the United States. [Sun Gazette]
Morning Notes
Family Remembers Homicide Victim — As Arlington police search for the man who killed a Columbia Pike jewelry shop owner on Friday, the family of the victim is speaking out. The victim’s daughter said her dad, 52-year-old Tommy Wong of Herndon, had owned Capital Jewelers at 3219 Columbia Pike for the past 5 years. “I just want to know why didn’t he take what he needed and leave my dad alone,” she said tearfully in a TV interview. [WUSA 9]
Tobacco Use Down Among Arlington Youth – Arlington youths are using less tobacco but are using more marijuana, according to the latest survey by the Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families. The survey results point to a continuation of a decade-long trend of declining tobacco use and increasing marijuana use among Arlington youth. [Sun Gazette]
Obituary for Local Business Leader – An obituary has been published for Syd Albrittain, the chief executive of local developer Dittmar Co., who died at the age of 82 last month. In addition to helping Arlington achieve its vision for transit-oriented development, Albrittain gave millions to local organizations like Bishop Denis J. O’Connell High School, the Catholic Archdiocese of Arlington, Virginia Hospital Center and the Arlington Free Clinic. [Washington Post]
Morning Notes
A Squirrel Did It — Last night’s widespread N. Arlington power outage was caused when “a squirrel tripped a number of circuit breakers at a substation.” [WUSA9]
Artisphere Supervisor Heads to N.J. — Norma Kaplan, the director of Arlington County’s Cultural Affairs division, is heading to New Brunswick, N.J. after 25 years in her current position. Kaplan, who oversaw the creation of Rosslyn’s struggling Artisphere cultural center, will serve as executive director of the New Brunswick Cultural Center. [Washington City Paper]
Sign Intrigue at Areizaga-Soto HQ? — The Jaime Areizaga-Soto campaign for state Senate has been told by several of its volunteers that someone showed up yesterday afternoon at the campaign’s Lee Highway office, took down all the Areizaga-Soto signs and replaced them with signs for his Democratic primary opponent, Barbara Favola.
Broadcaster With Arlington Connection Dies — Nat Allbright, a legendary radio broadcaster who could take simple telegraph accounts of a baseball game and spin it into an exciting play-by-play broadcast, died last month. Allbright’s New York Times obituary notes that he served as the voice of the Dodger Network, which broadcast Brooklyn and then Los Angeles Dodger games across the eastern U.S., from a Washington-area studio. As recently as about 10 years ago, Allbright sold advertising for the Arlington Sun Gazette newspaper. He died in Arlington on July 18, at the age of 87. [New York Times]
Flickr pool photo by Damiec
John M. Couric Dies
Long-time Arlington resident John M. Couric has died.
Couric, the father of former CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, died Wednesday at Virginia Hospital Center of complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 90.
Couric started his career as a newspaper and wire service reporter, before eventually jumping into the public relations field. He was a Navy veteran during World War II, according to a Washington Post obituary.
In an interview with the Archive of American Television (see clip, below), Katie Couric discussed her father’s journalism career and his influence on her own career.
Phil Keating, Lawyer and Business Champion, Dies at 51
(Updated at 3:40 p.m.) Phil Keating, a prominent figure in Arlington civic life, died suddenly last night at the age of 51.
Keating, an attorney with the Arlington firm of Bean, Kinney & Korman, just finished his term as the 2010 chairman of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce.
A New Jersey native, Keating earned his B.A. from Rutgers. He received his J.D., with honors, from George Washington University.
As an attorney, Keating represented business clients from individual entrepreneurs to large multi-national companies.
“He was just one of the best people you know,” said Leo Fisher, a managing partner at Bean, Kinney & Korman. “He was a very positive person, he had a great sense of humor… it was a pleasure to work with him.”
“We are absolutely stunned in disbelief,” said Takis Karantonis, director of the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, who worked with Keating on business issues related to the Pike. “This is a real loss for our community… he was a real civic champion.”
In addition to his work with the Chamber, Keating was a member of Arlington County’s Community Energy and Sustainability Task Force.
“It’s a little surreal that he’s not here today,” said 2010 county board chairman Jay Fisette, who ran in to Keating while eating lunch at a restaurant in Courthouse yesterday. “Our chairmanships coincided, and I got a chance to know him pretty well… He was very committed to the community as a whole, and that was reflected in his life and in his interactions.”
“Phil was filled with humor and compassion, and was a consensus-builder,” said Sun Gazette Managing Editor Scott McCaffrey, who worked with Keating as a member of the Chamber’s Executive Committee. “[He] used his year as chairman to push the Chamber of Commerce to continue as an engaged partner in government and economic affairs in Arlington and the region.”
Keating was married with three children, including a daughter who recently graduated from college, a son who’s an undergraduate at UVA and a daughter who’s a junior in high school.
Former Congressman Stan Parris Dies
Stanford Parris, a Republican who represented the eighth district of Virginia in congress for most of the 1980s, has died from heart disease at the age of 80.
Parris was an Air Force veteran. He was rescued after the jet he was piloting was shot down over North Korea.
Parris’ eighth district seat is currently held by Rep. Jim Moran (D), who succeeded Parris in 1991. The eighth district now includes Arlington, but we’re told it did not during the time Parris was in office (we apologize for the error in a previous version of this story).
Funeral services for Parris will be held at Arlington National Cemetery.
