Alexandria Gazette Packet 25 Cents Vol. CCXXV, No. 35 Serving Alexandria for over 200 years • A Connection Newspaper September 3, 2009 A Determined Life Alexandria journalist-turned Marine dies in combat, buried at Arlington. By Michael Lee Pope vice. “Here was a guy who was Gazette Packet already 34-years-old with an es- tablished career, and he’s joining amily members say Bill the Marines? We’re not talking /Gazette Packet Cahir had a kind of in- about some kid out of high school Fdomitable spirit, one that who doesn’t know what to do with propelled him through his future.” difficulties toward accomplishing Cahir served two deployments a goal. Although he was not a in Iraq and eventually returned to naturally athletic type, they said, Pennsylvania, where he decided to he set his mind to run for Congress in Michael Lee Pope becoming an accom- his hometown. In plished swimmer — “He was a 2008, he waged an eventually master- unsuccessful cam- Photo by Photo ing the most difficult man of action, paign in the Demo- Polluted water from this site could have ended up in the city’s storm sewer, leaving of strokes, the but- cratic primary for city taxpayers with the bill to clean it up. terfly. After 9/11, he not words.” the 5th congres- decided to leave his — Nancy Perkins sional district of career as a journal- Pennsylvania against ist and join the Marine Corps. Af- a Clearfield County City Misses Potential Threat ter his application to become a Ma- commissioner and the mayor of rine had originally been denied be- Lock Haven. One YouTube video Fired construction superintendent alerts city cause of his age, he lobbied mem- from the campaign humorously bers of Congress to get a special explained that his name was pro- to polluted water headed for city storm sewer. exemption. nounced “Care.” He lost the pri- “We all thought he was crazy,” mary, but friends say it was a spir By Michael Lee Pope Now city officials are trying to figure out how said Brett Lieberman, a former Gazette Packet they almost allowed petroleum-polluted water to colleague at Newhouse News Ser- See Journalist, Page 25 drain into the city’s storm sewers — a phenom- ecades of pollution are at the heart of a enon that could have left Alexandria taxpayers Dlegal dispute between a developer and stuck with the bill for cleaning it up. of the Bill Cahir Mem Courtesy one of its former employees who was According to interviews, court records and docu- fired last summer. That wrongful termination law- ments received as the result of a public-records suit is now unfolding at the city courthouse, and City Hall has become caught the crosshairs. See Environmental Issue, Page 7 Trying To Save Iraqi Linguists Couple fights for refugee status for two sisters. orial Fund By Ansley LaBarre demanded the return of his daugh- ther waved what U.S. authorities Gazette Packet ters, 21-year-old Sally and 19- viewed as a fake warrant for the year-old Sarah, employed as lin- girls’ arrest, Valdiserri recalls few William Cahir, 40, of Alexandria died Aug. 13 during t took just one phone call. guists for U.S. forces. As their fa- options existed for the surround- combat operations in Afghanistan. INearly a year ago, Paige ing soldiers and the two young Valdiserri sat in her tent on a “They were two Iraqi females. Their lives had be- military base in Iraq and listened come an issue of honor. 22314 VA Alexandria, To: 1604 King St., King 1604 To: ted to the plea of two strangers. girls trapped in a The girls’ precarious journey Reques Service Address Valdiserri knew nothing of the began with their decision to run material. young women on the other end of patriarchal society away from home. For these Iraqi Time-sensitive Postmaster: the line, except they were con- women in a culturally subservient Attention sumed with fear. that wouldn’t let role, their departure brought Permit #482 Permit Iraqi police arrived at the gates shame to the family. It didn’t mat VA Alexandria, them get out.” PAID of the base housing the two Postage U.S. women, led by an irate father. He — Tim Kennedy See Couple, Page 25 STD PRSRT www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ September 3-9, 2009 ❖ 1 2 ❖ Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ September 3-9, 2009 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com People Far Beyond His Nine Lives Taking Command Alexandria journalist Alexandria native Earl Cook thrives on war stories. talks about becoming chief By Michael K. Bohn of police in his hometown. Gazette Packet n the gathering darkness, reporter Philip By Michael Lee Pope Smucker crawled through cactus and scrub Gazette Packet I near a Haitian border post. He had recruited a guide from the nearby town of Jimani in ast week, Alexandria the Dominican Republic, the country that shares the L Earl Cook was ap- Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Lacking a pointed chief of the Al- Haitian entry visa, Smucker, an Alexandria native, exandria Police Department2 by had paid the man $200 to smuggle him across the Courtesy Photos City Manager Jim Hartmann. A border 30-year veteran of the force, In early September 1994, Haiti was suffering Cook was second-in-command through a paroxysm of domestic and international of the department when former political strife. President Bill Clinton was prepared Chief David Baker resigned af- to send U.S. military forces to restore the duly elected ter being arrested in Arlington Haitian head of state, who had been ousted by a Philip G. Smucker for drunk driving. military coup. The U.S. and international news media hastily What does this mean to sought on-the-scene reporting, so freelance war cor- somebody who has respondent Philip Smucker, a 1979 graduate of T. C. grown up in this commu- Police Chief Earl Cook Williams High School, flew to the Dominican Repub- nity to become chief of lic. police? right now. We have some very “As a younger man, I made it a habit of getting It’s kind of a lifelong goal to important projects on the table into places illegally,” said Smucker, now 49. After Philip Smucker makes friends every- get here at the end. Quite right now around strategic po- evading Haitian patrols that night, Smucker walked where he travels, including these young frankly, I really wasn’t sure if I licing and technology. We’re up a mountainous ridge that formed part of the bor- Afghani boys. was going to get there at the coming into a time when we are der. Becoming disoriented, he ended up back on the end of my career. After passing getting new records systems Dominican side in the morning. Undaunted, Smucker master’s degree in journalism at the University of 30 years, you start looking for and other things that have to rented a burro and took another route into Haiti. Michigan in 1986, Smucker has used Alexandria as opportunities out there beyond be put into place in the next 18 After dismounting, he walked toward Port-au-Prince. his base as he traveled the world as an international the city government. But I to 24 months. These are prior- Haitian police soon accosted him and asked why reporter. He has spent years living abroad, with ex- started here, and I intended to ity issues for us, and we hope his dirty clothes were full of cactus needles. “I told tended stays in Southeast Asia, Russia, Europe, Egypt, end my police career here if I to move into a new police facil- them I was on a hike and was staying at the, ah, um, and the Balkans, and has covered the U.S. wars in could. So for that, it’s a fulfill- ity in two years. So some of the oh yea, the Hotel Trianon in Port-au-Prince,” he said. Iraq and Afghanistan. By his count, Smucker has been ment of a dream. things that are already ongoing Smucker had just read Graham Greene’s The Come- ejected from four countries, threatened with a need to be kept moving along dians, a novel that featured a fictional hotel of that weapon or shot at on nine occasions, and feared for How will you judge your as efficiently as possible, and name patterned after Port-au-Prince’s Hotel Oloffson. his life five times. success? then we’ll also be looking for “They somehow bought that, He has always been an in- First and foremost, we have new opportunities out there in and I was in business.” He dependent freelancer, picking to deliver service. We are a pub- the policing area to enhance quickly began reporting for “As a younger man, I up ad hoc assignments from lic service agency, and public our ability to serve the city. Toronto’s Globe & Mail, newspapers and periodicals safety if always going to have a McLean’s magazine, and oth- made it a habit of getting ranging from the International high profile in any community. Is there anything you ers. Herald Tribune to U.S. News The reduction of fear in the would like to see the into places illegally.” & World Report. Such report- community, a real reduction in department do differ- SINCE OBTAINING his — Philip Smucker ers are called “stringers,” and crime, having a realistically safe ently? are paid by the piece and of- community is our top priority. We can always do things bet- ten get expense allowances. This ap- That’s our number one mission. ter. So as I look at it myself, I proach, however, has not deterred Personally for me as a chief of think it’s important for me to him from superlative reporting.