Georgetown restaurant catches fire

A fire at the Alamo Grill, a popular Georgetown restaurant, sent patrons, including 20 GW students, rushing to the exits Friday night. No injuries were reported, but the wall behind the bar was charred.

At 11 p.m., an electrical device attached to the wall of the restaurant’s first floor bar caught on fire, filling both floors with smoke, said Metropolitan Police Officer Mark Lee. Minutes later, fire trucks from the D.C. Fire Department extinguished the flames, after approximately 30 people evacuated the restaurant.

MPD and the D.C. Fire Department blocked off M Street at 31st Street – where the Alamo is located, for 40 minutes after the fire was extinguished – preventing scores of partygoers from making their way to Georgetown nightclubs.

The Alamo’s manager, who declined to comment, sat slumped on a staircase across the street from the restaurant with his head in his hands. Inside the restaurant, chairs and tables were knocked over, victims of a hasty exit and several fire hoses. On several tables that were still standing, small candles could be seen burning brightly after the fire was put out.
–Michael Barnett

Metro talks fare increase

Metro officials said they are considering raising fares for bus and rail transportation starting in July to pay for rising operating costs. If instituted, the fare hike would be the second in two years.

“Folks are going to have to expect another fare increase to cover these costs,” D.C. Council member David A. Catania (D-At Large), who represents the District on the Metro board, told the Washington Post. “We can’t dance around it. We’re going to have to go down that path again.”

In April, the city raised Metro fares 10 cents, the first increase since 1995. But the hike has made few inroads against a projected $60 to $80 million shortfall for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. Officials attribute the deficit to an increase in wages and costs associated with providing service to the disabled, the Post reported.

Officials did not say how much fares would be raised if a hike, which will be voted on early next year, is approved.

Trial begins for tractor driver

A North Carolina man whose phony bomb threat brought downtown D.C. to a standstill last March asked former president Bill Clinton to be a witness at his trial.

Dwight Watson said Clinton could document the hardships suffered by small-time farmers, which is why he drove his tractor into a pond on the Mall and stayed there for 47 hours, the Washington Post reported. Watson’s stunt led police to cordon off several major District thoroughfares and evacuate several federal office buildings.

Watson’s trial began Wednesday.

“Those are the issues that enabled me to come to Washington to express my opinion,” said Watson of the incident, as reported by the Post. “We don’t want to make a real big deal about it, but I want to talk about it.”

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson denied Watson’s subpoena request, saying he did not want the trial to turn into a political circus, the Post reported. Watson has also filed a subpoena for former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, which the judge also rejected.

Watson is charged with threatening to detonate explosives and causing thousands of dollars of damage to the Mall. If convicted, he could face up to ten years in prison.
–Michael Barnett