Photos: 'Homes" in Cite Soleil (right)

Below, left, armless teenager writing in class with pencil in her toes; Below right WER-UK CEO Alex Haxton and the writer distribute lunch to students, their only lunch for the week.

By Harry Covert
Cite Soleil, Haiti.

I was on a working visit to Port au Prince, Haiti, a few weeks ago. The people are so poor they make “DIRT COOKIES” and sell them for 2¢ each. I saw how they are made -- with dirt, salt and butter or lard. Then put on cardboard to dry in the sun. We went to the community in Cite Soleil, the poorest, the dirtiest and the neediest place in the world, bar none. I've been sending containers of food and clothing for a long time. I've been seeing first hand our facilities. Taken lots of photos. I had a picture taken with a 108 year-old woman at the Sisters of Mercy sanitarium. She was spry and talkative--Sister Charles vouched for her age. She had been married in 1920 at 19. Others there were elderly and crippled, truly infirm and it was spotless. The other facilities are indescribable at the moment. I am worn out emotionally and exhausted physically.

There are so many street children, from one year up, which it makes you cry. Tiny infant crawling around the dirt and mud while other older children just run around in the muck and mire and the open-air sewer. Our visit was to inspect the Good Samaritan Foundation, a church of about 400 poor as can be people and with a school for boys and girls from ages 3&4 to 17. The pastor is only able to feed the children once a week and it's usually the only meal they get -- rice, beans. On Monday, fried chicken legs were included, one to each child. You have never seen such orderly classrooms -- cute kids in uniforms quiet as mice and minding the teacher. We helped pass out aluminum bowls of food to 600 children -- at one point, we were scared there wasn't going to be enough to go around. At the end, we distributed a cup of fortified milk. They all were fed in 95-degee plus heat.

In a combined effort of World Emergency Relief-United Kingdom, Stichting Wereld Nood Hulp (World Emergency Relief-Holland) and Ripples of Hope, a project of International Relief Federation, we're going to raise enough food so these kids can eat every day at school. Otherwise, they won't be eating but once a week.

A one-time gift of $650 will feed the 150 school children for one month.

The six-piece church band, made up of the school's boys and girls, played The Star Spangled Banner, first to welcome me, then the U. S. Army anthem, the Caissons Keep Rolling Along, and then several others. The band had two trumpets, trombone, drums, guitar, and saxophone. It was motivation.

Our team included Alex Haxton, WER-UK chief executive, Russell Griggs of Cross International, Haitian Pastor Astrel Vincent and myself. We had dinner with the German Ambassador to Haiti. He was delightful. He had been Germany's ambassador to North Korea. That was an interesting experience he said. I'll be writing more about this shortly.#

Fortunately, I had a nice ride to central London to the offices of World Emergency Relief-United Kingdom at 20 York Buildings, near Charing Cross.  Then a nice lunch at the Royal Society of Arts before going to the Strand Palace Hotel for an afternoon's rest.  What was fun, as usual for me, was grabbing the London newspapers.  The headlines blared the silly and inane speeches of the Libyan and Iranian dictators. 

London weather was wonderful, bright and sunny and cool.  The highlight though was the visit with the staff and trustees of WER-UK.  We spent a few days discussing international humanitarian projects of this importance charity.  One of the joys was the the potluck dinner.  I can't recall everyone's contribution but they were terrific.  I remember the quiches, the hummus recipe and the desserts, especially the strawberry cake. Mouthwatering.

I have to admit, it's fun reading the British newspapers.  No holds barred journalism.  While The Sunday Telegraph covered the international speechifying at the United Nations in New York, they spent lots of space talking about President Obama and his alleged snubbing of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.  I don't know if it happened or not.  But, it was the Sunday Telegraph's Stephen Bayley's column about women.  Britons are taken by First Lady Michelle Obama. Bayley described her powerful image.

Said Mr. Bayley:

 "Michelle Obama has a classic callipygian figure."  I'd never heard of the word.  Bayley continued, "This is the word the Greeks had for 'fat bottom.'  Her wardrobe selection emphasizes these posterior curves without exaggerating them.  And long gym sessions doing grip-flip tricip pushdowns and hammer curls add to her staturesque qualities."

I'd wager no President's wife has ever been described this way.  I'm not going to tell you the definition now.  Look it up.  He also described Angelina Jolie a cartoon figure.

The Times had some interesting items, too.  Lots of Britons support euthanasia and going to Switzerland to die.  Lost among the headlines in the papers and the BBC and Skynews was the story that Pope Benedict may stay in Buckingham Palace during his historic 2010 visit; that embattled Prime Minister Brown denied he'll quit on health grounds; that an 'egg whisk' beat bloodflow problem in heart operations; and, a senior bank executive murdered his wife "after he discovered that she was having two affairs and feared that a divorce would cost him his wealth."

Newspapers are educational.

Now while the World Emergency Relief-United Kingdom staff was hard at work, Vera Spicer, the business and financial administrator, took my mind off the hot news with a tasty Lebanese hoummos recipe.  Here it is:

Serves 4

500 g dried chick peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
2 Tablespoons Bicarbonate of Soda
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt
100 g Ice
200 g Tahini (Sesame seed paste)
4 Tablespoons lemon juice

Place the chick peas in a large pan with the bicarbonate of soda and plenty of cold water.
Bring to the boil and simmer for about 40 minutes or until it’s soft.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir well to loosen and remove the skins.

Drain and rinse thoroughly.
Place the chick peas in a food processor and whizz until it’s smooth.
Add the ice, tahini and some of the lemon juice, Whizz again while adding around 500 ml of water until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Pour in the remaining lemon Juice and add salt to taste.
Add some olive oil and a dash of cayenne pepper or paprika (optional)
You can replace the 1st  2 steps with cans of already soaked and cooked chick peas, remove the skins and start from step 4.

Bon Appetit,
Vera

Other fine members of our WER-UK team are: Alex Haxton, chief executive; Jeremy Horner, program manager; Safija Jusupovic, assistant project manager; Andrew Watt, business and financial manager; Ben Carter, marketing and communications manager; Natalie Duffy,business and marketing coordinator; and Nick Mason, development and fundraising manager.

WER-UK trustees are Margaret Edwards, vice chair; Charles (Chip) Watkins, Elizabeth Laskar, Nick Pettingale, Alex Botha and me.#

Dave Baker made Alexandria a safer city.

He was an innovative policeman, far-seeing in management style as police chief and always on the hunt for new and effective ideas to control crime He aimed high to eliminate crime and criminals on city streets. Under his leadership, Alexandria’s police were mighty effective.

Of course, police can’t stop crime. No one expects that but police can control it with effective methods.

I found Baker to be an articulate chief. I was glad when he started wearing a single silver star as symbol of his rank some months ago. I think it matched his stylish silvery mane. He is an elegant dresser in uniform or civilian togs. He looks like the man-in-command and he cared for the rank-and-file. Everybody knows this.

Today, most everybody knows David P. Baker has retired as Alexandria’s police chief. Unfortunately, and unexpectedly for the citizens, himself and his family he was charged with driving under the influence. Arlington police said he had had a few too many beers on a late Saturday night (July 25), after a week of vacationing with his family by the seaside.

Big news, quite naturally. Certainly a career-ending mistake. I call it unfortunate. Chief Baker established a truly 40-year career in law enforcement. He grew to distinguished stature which he’s had to relinquish. I know the law is for all of us. I had that heartsickening feeling when I got an early morning call last week.

Dave Baker spent two decades with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department. That was no easy task. He grew as a leader, handling every sort of dangerous crime, stared down some mighty mean people and never shot in self-defense. The next 20 years was in Alexandria, most of them as deputy chief before his elevation three years ago. Baker never let anger or revenge get in his way of making decisions. He told me that. That was obvious.

I read the anonymous comments by people on blogs of local media. They weren’t very nice. I think citizen-writers who won’t sign their real names to critical opinions are cowards. I also don’t think news sources ought to permit anonymous writers to contribute. It might not be pleasing, but if you have the courage of your convictions, I say stand up and be counted, no mealy-mouthing or hiding. There are lots of those people around though. From my years of journalistic experience, anonymous is a popular byline.

Baker has been beaten up pretty well over the past few days. I don’t think this takes away from a truly outstanding career, both in Washington and Alexandria. He took strong stands to support his officers, he established the city’s strategic policing program, he transferred officers, uniformed and plain clothes, who were not effective. He was a good representative for the police and the city. He is a good speaker, a fine writer and at the lectern or the platform, people listened.

His career may be over in Alexandria but his professionalism and leadership still matters. There are jurisdictions around the Commonwealth of Virginia, Maryland and other locales who can certainly use his services. There are federal agencies that should take advantage of Dave Baker’s talents. I don’t suspect he’ll be idle too long. That would be a crime.#

Usually on Thursdays in the spring, Miss Martin read Homer’s Iliad to her sixth graders at John W. Daniel School. The windows were raised and we little tykes hoped a breeze would flow through the room. We didn’t have air conditioning in 1950.

Miss Martin favored white tee-shirts all the time and looked exactly like Benjamin Franklin. No kidding. When I look at a $100 bill today, I see her staring right at me. If any of us 30-plus pupils had been caught misbehaving a bit, she didn’t keep us after class, which they could do easily in those days. Instead, she had her own clever punishment — three or four long-division arithmetic problems: dividing long numbers like 899,765,343 by 1487.

This was a challenge to a 10-year-old, especially if you had to turn them in the next morning. We were a bunch of sweet attentive boys and girls, seldom if ever drawing the ire of our teacher who never missed a day.

We loved the Iliad stories as Miss Martin read to us out loud. Usually once a month, she would give a little quiz, not for grades but to see if we were paying attention about Achilles and the Trojan Horse. If we needed a little help with the answers, she could show a soft side and help us.

Miss Martin came to my mind last week during the July 4 homage paid to the great baseball player Lou Gehrig on the 70th anniversary of his famous “luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech. Gehrig was the Yankees’ No. 4, the iron man who played 2,130 consecutive games from June 1, 1925 to April 30, 1939. This record remained for 61 years until Baltimore’s Cal Ripken Jr., broke it September 19, 1998, at 2,632.

On that day, July 4, 1939 Gehrig was forced to retire because of what we know today as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He died at age 38 in 1941.

In Miss Martin’s class some 59 years ago, I remember vividly as we pulled out the Iliad for our afternoon session. She began in a pleasant reading manner. Today it seems she reached the Trojan Horse part when I slipped in front of my book, the 1942 orange-covered biography of Lou Gehrig. As she droned on, I forgot about the Iliad. I got lost in the story where little Lou went eel fishing for his mother in the World War I era. He’d bring home his catch, his mother would pickle them and then Lou returned to Second Avenue in East Harlem, New York City, to sell the goodies.

I “traveled” that afternoon with Lou as he grew to be a football player at Columbia and then on to became the baseball hero of the Yankees.
Suddenly, I heard a voice, “What page are you on?” Miss Martin roared. Naturally I thought she was talking to someone else. I stuttered a bit, tried to sneak Gehrig back in my lap. She kept on, “Can you tell me about the Trojans?” Fear struck at the moment. My classmates laughed.

In my book that afternoon it was 1932, not with the Greeks. Gehrig had just hit four home runs in a game against the Philadelphia Athletics. The first player to do so in the 20th century.

Miss Martin ordered me to the front of class. She seized my Gehrig book. My penalty was to collect all of the Homer’s Iliad books from the class.

She apparently forgot to give me the long-division problems. The next morning, she allowed us to go to the library. It was Principal Thomas E. Baines who returned the Gehrig book to me. His advise was short and sweet: don’t read it in Miss Martin’s class.”

To this day I’ve never eaten eels. #

Short’s sub-title is “True Stories of Strom Thurmond from the People Who Knew Him Best.” No one could write this excellent work better that Duke Short, who lives in Alexandria, Va.. He lived the life of the indefatigable senator who served in the Senate until he was 100 and died at 101.

Among his professional traits Thurmond was well known for his exceptional constituent services, superior to anyone else in the senate except perhaps for the late Jesse Helms.

No one knew Thurmond better than Short. For 30 years, he was a staff member for the former presidential candidate, governor of his state and national guard major general. For the last 15 of Thurmond’s service, Duke was chief of staff.

The recollections are delightful, filled with personable anecdotes including a story with Ronald Reagan. Bob Dole, the former presidential candidate and senate majority leader, said, “the unforgettable anecdotes and reflections are at once touching, hilarious, and fascinating.”

The senator’s life is not sugar-coated. It’s a fun read. It’s a superb history lesson. Senator Dole said it best: “It’s a rare behind-the-scenes portrait and shows life of one of the most enduring political leaders of the 20th century.

It’s pleasant to read the comments by his friends and colleagues like Vice President Joe Biden and Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sandra Day O’Connor, Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Former Presidents George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Gerald Ford also had their say.

The Centennial Senator is in every book store and online.
Duke could have called it the “Exciting Life and Times of R. J. Duke Short.” But “The Centennial Senator” will suffice.

"Often in between the spoken and written word there is an astonishing gulf."
Mr. Obama certainly has the "loyal opposition" on defense and on the run. I can hear another Poirot comment applicable to the GOPers: "We hit our heads between stone bricks." I love Poirot's use of English, albeit with a Belgian accent.

The President's use of language tantalizes lots of Americans. His scribes are excellent and know how to put words into his mouth. Fiction can be fun, especially when you get paid for it.

The Chief in Charge, Showing Great Restraint in Barricade Situation

By HARRY COVERT

        It always irks me to hear about hostage-takers and kidnappers.  In my thought, these people are the worst of the worst.  My instant reaction is to knock down the door and send in the sharpshooters and get it over with.  I know that doesn't sound very nice.  

        After my 15 seconds of thought on the matter, that's not the proper reaction either.  Besides, that's not how it's done in Alexandria, as a recent incident in Cameron Station off Duke Street shows.  

        Chief David P. Baker's Alexandria police showed great restraint and pure professionalism in dealing with James Downs.  About 10:45 on the morning of Thursday, Jan. 29, in the midst of a domestic situation, Downs shot his girlfriend with his black revolver in the back and side.  She was the mother of his infant daughter and his business partner.  

        Police in the area responded, managed to grab the shooting victim and took her to the hospital   Police quickly established street control and set up protection for the neighborhood and the nearby elementary school.  "Our Hostage Negotiation Team (HNT) was up and running very quickly, within a half-hour," he said.

        Within minutes of the shooting, Alexandria Sheriff's Deputies had responded to support.  It wasn't long either before the Special Operations Team arrived, specially trained officers for these type of situations. Then the city's fire department and EMS teams,  emergency management, and Red Cross arrived to help.

        It's simple.  From the beginning, Chief Baker's forces were determined to wait out the shooter, hoping to save his life and maybe others, too.  As always in these situations, Alexandria's police showed great restraint and pure professionalism.  

        For Baker, the day began attending a special City Hall meeting for department heads.  In the quiet, his pager buzzed.  In moments, he was up, excused himself and out he went, arriving quickly at the scene.  The situation didn't get out of hand.

        "Things were getting into place very quickly when I got there," he said.  The police Command Bus got there within 20 minutes after Chief Baker.

        "It was at the point that the scene was secured, the perimeter established and the community notified," he said.  

        The situation developed rapidly, Baker said, as the victim had been taken to the hospital and the baby rescued from the front of the house."

        Hostage and kidnapping situations are not new to Baker.  Now in his 39th year as a police officer, his experience plays an important role in his daily work as police chief and his leadership obvious.   
        
        "I have been involved in dozens of hostage barricade situations," he said, "especially during his time as captain of Washington's Metropolitan Police Special Operations Division from 1987-91.  He served in D.C., beginning in1970 and retiring in 1991.  He was named as Alexandria's Deputy Chief in 1991 and selected chief in 2006.

        Baker has never let anger or revenge get in his way managing hostage standoff situations.  "I never shot a hostage taker or kidnapper," he said.  "I am very proud of our people.  The incident ended like it should because of the exceptional work of our people, Sheriff Lawhorne's people and the help we received from Arlington."

        In the Cameron Station standoff, the shooter James Downs came out on the balcony of his townhouse once in the afternoon.  It was at this point police thought he might surrender. The negotiator talked to him for numerous hours, trying to convince him to surrender. The Tactical Team surrounded the home, maintaining a controlled and safe environment. They were determined to wait him out. as negotiations continued.  In late afternoon, Baker and his team called in assistance from Arlington, his officers had been enduring long periods of time in extremely cold weather.  

        "This was an exceptional team effort," the silver-haired chief said, quick to spread praise around.  "We stood up very quickly.  The scene was very well organized and managed."  Within moments after Baker arrived, he was joined by of his deputy chiefs and various city ranking officials, including Mayor Bill Euille and City Manager Jim Hartmann.

        It was indeed an excellent performance by Baker and his department.  It was a long day.  Unfortunately, Arlington police entered the home around 11 pm and found that Downs had fatally shot himself.

        I'm sure patience is a virtue and most of the time it saves lives.

By HARRY COVERT

They call him the "Sultan of Swish" in Tennessee.

Growing up they called him "Skeeter."

Today, he’s the "Legend" of Alexandria.

He’s earned the titles.

Actually, Harley "Skeeter" Swift grew up on the streets of Alexandria. At about 10, before he had a two-wheel bicycle, he pulled a little red wagon up and down Washington, King and especially Lee Streets, a little tyke going from "pillar to post." He always had a basketball.

Skeeter Swift’s remarkable career is being recalled in a biography I’m writing. It’s called, "Skeeter: The Legend of Alexandria." I’ve researched his life extensively, interviewed many of his high school friends and companions, who today are leaders of the community. We’ve prepared a 15-chapter book.

I’ve known Skeeter for many years. He is a living legend of his hometown, in Tennessee, his adopted state, and throughout high school, collegiate and professional sports circles. His story is a remarkable one.

Swift fell in love with basketball as a mere boy. He literally dribbled the ball everywhere he walked in Old Town. The remarkable thing is his basketball prowess began on a cobblestone alley. Every day for three and four hours "I’d dribble, dribble and dribble on cobblestone."

The alley still stands today next to the Burke and Herbert Bank building on Fairfax Street. It’s called Swift Alley.

It’s not named for Skeeter, even though it should be. In fact it’s named after his parents, who at the time operated a popular bar, which Skeeter describes as a saloon.

Today, at 62, Skeeter Swift has had a stellar athletic career as a player and as an outstanding high school and collegiate coach. He lives in Kingsport, Tenn. He still has family residing in Alexandria.

"Rain or shine, I’d just practice and practice," Swift recalls. "I learned what to expect from the ball when I tried to dribble on a cobblestone. Then I’d dribble as I pulled my wagon. I loved basketball."

A few years later, Skeeter received a bicycle as a Christmas present. He was a familiar sight around Old Town, this growing hulking boy with the ball in the basket. He wiled away his days, all year around and in all kinds of weather, at the Lee Street playground, shooting and dribbling.

"I developed a dead-eye, jump-shooting all over the court. Nobody could beat me. I could shoot the ball." He honed his skills so well he turned it to an advantage by "earning extra money" from young basketball players from all over northern Virginia, Greater Washington and in Prince George’s County. "They all wanted to test me. I always won." As someone said, "it ain’t braggin’ if you can do it."

As a teenager he grew to 6-feet-3. He could play basketball better than most. He was not the big center on the team but a guard – a 200-plus pound guard and he could shoot.

Without question, Skeeter put George Washington High School, now a Middle School, on the sports map of Virginia and Greater Washington. He was highly recruited by Virginia colleges. He chose East Tennessee State University because of a full scholarship. "I wasn’t a very good student then, but I learned," he says.

And learn he did. Skeeter could dribble and shoot and "showoff. I had to be a showman." He was not only a great player but an outstanding entertainer. "I had to be at East Tennessee. For the first time in the school’s history, we filled the gym with fans."

Skeeter didn’t let the fans down. He became a three-time All-Ohio Valley Conference player at East Tennessee State and the Player of the Year in 1968. He was elected to the ETSU Hall of Fame in 1982. When he was first recruited by ETSU, the coach thought he was a football player because of his size.

He’s in many Halls of Fame and has been honored by numerous groups in Virginia, including the Alexandria Sports Club.

Many old-time Alexandrians still remember the 1965 high school football game when he drop kicked a field goal and George Washington High School defeated Annandale. Few people had ever seen a "drop kicked" field goal, which is still legal today. Most recall his legendary performances on the basketball court at Tulloch Memorial Gym of George Washington High School in the early 1960s.

Skeeter Swift put East Tennessee State University on the national map with his basketball playing days. He went on to become a star in professional basketball where he scored over 3,000 points in his career and today ranks as one of the top 10 free-throw shooters in the American Basketball Association, now the National Basketball Association.

He has been an outstanding coach, teacher and speaker. As a coach at Oak Hill Academy, he won a national championship. © Copyright 2008 Harry Covert.

I'm sure sorry Senator Jesse Helms died. That was inevitable, but I'm glad it was on July 4. To me his Heavenly ascent elevates him to the near godly stature of the great Thomas Jefferson, who died on this date in 1826. I always called him Virginia's Third Senator. He lived in Arlington, Virginia, all of his political years.

Senator Helms was a gentleman, a man of his word. When he believed something, he never wavered, never was wishy-washy and everyone, including his colleagues knew he wouldn’t change. Some wags enjoyed naming him “Senator No.” He sort of liked that. He was 86.

He’s probably the last of the true blue conservatives, top to bottom. He started in his native North Carolina as a newspaperman, reporter and city editor in Raleigh and later as a TV commentator. That gave him a good start on the issues. He parlayed that journalism experience into a political career that made a difference in America and five-terms, 30 years, in the Senate.

After two terms, Helms called a meeting in a senate room on the pretext of asking advice of several of his longtime political operatives. He wanted advice on whether he ought to run again. He was a few minutes late but Tom Ellis and Carter Wrenn, his political allies, his Lynchburg friend Ron Godwin and me sat around gabbing. Ellis, Wrenn and Godwin agreed that Jesse’s “really trying."

Moments later in walked Jesse, smoking his favorite non-filter Lucky Strike cigarette (remember, North Carolina is a tobacco state). He “acted” as though he really wanted our opinions. He confided he had to ask his wife Dot because he wasn’t sure she had the stamina for another campaign. We all laughed at that. They knew she’d go for it. She did. And he won his third term.

Constituent work was one thing Senator Helms was best known. North Carolinians could always count on immediate assistance and prompt responses to letters and phone calls. I was a Virginian and received first-class treatment, too. Whenever I needed assistance for international relief projects* Helms and his office were always quick to help. I always carried a letter of introduction to U. S. Embassies.

Once as part of a 25-container project going to Croatia, there was some official assistance difficulty in Zagreb. A rather rude embassy official was making life a little unpleasant. At last resort I whipped out my Helms letter. Still, the red-tape was sticky. However, a phone call back to the Senate brought about a personal call from The Man himself. The project went smoothly after that, including an even better meeting, including dinner, with the then Vice President of Croatia. Helms did quit smoking. He never stopped wearing a dual lapel pin of Old Glory and the North Carolina state flag. He’s evidence that some newspapermen will make it to the celestial climes. #

*From 1988 to 1995, Covert coordinated and developed international humanitarian relief projects throughout African, Central American and emerging eastern European countries. He is currently chairman of World Emergency Relief-United Kingdom.

The weather was perfect too. Mosquitoes, probably with a little help from the Park Service, weren’t anywhere to be found.

I must say, "Lyle Lovett and his Large Band" in concert were awesome -- absolutely great musicians. The 25-member ensemble included God’s Generation, a trained young black gospel group from Connecticut; three stylish black singers from LA; a classically-trained cellist from Wyoming, a bass player from the left coast; two percussionists – drummers; two guitarists, one doubling on mandolin; a violinist from Texas; a steel guitarist from Nashville; and a pianist (not a piano player) from Los Angeles. Joining the show toward the end of the concert was Mike Eldridge of Northern Virginia, a longtime member of the famed Seldom Scene blue grass band. They performed non-stop for 2 1/2 hours. Superb musicians all.

Lyle’s a Texas boy. I discovered he majored in journalism and earned a graduate degree at Texas A&M. He's a combination of alternative country, gospel and the blues. In college working on the school paper, Lovett began interviewing and hanging around with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and others in informal, front-porch jams where he hone his skills.

None of the audience left early and offered standing ovations and received two encores. Variety is the spice of life of course and Wolf Trap certainly has variety. #