Congress Heights on the Rise

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This week's Washington City Paper cover story may be the best ever.


Kathy Henderson posed 
for a 2006  City Paper story. 
Darrow Montgomery/File Photo
What can happen when you have a horribly dysfunctional Advisory Neighborhood Commission, power struggles and one very big ego? A story so fraught with frustration and aggravation that only one really good blogger (in this case Frozen Tropic's Elise Bernard) could tell the tale.

Go HERE to read all about it. While the ANC mentioned in the article is located in Ward 5 early readers of this blog can find some similarities between a certain ANC chairwoman in Ward 8 I'm sure. ;) 

Excerpt:
A few moments later, another audience member stood up and said “this is becoming a farce, and so shameful. ‘We the community’ is ‘we the people,’ not ‘we the commissioners.’” Three minutes later, Henderson abruptly adjourned the meeting without a motion while speaking over Commissioner Adam Roberts’ partner, Edward Milton, who records video of meetings and whom Henderson had refused to recognize. Milton accused Henderson of putting her hand on him as she passed. She denied it and left, but could soon be heard calling out “Officer! Officer!” after threatening to have Metropolitan Police Department officers remove Milton from the meeting. (5D’s meetings are held at a police station outside the ANC’s boundaries.)

Henderson returned shortly after, and Milton threw a barb at Henderson regarding the loss of a property she owned as the result of a court judgment. Henderson then insisted that those who record audio and video of meetings do so to “make a mockery of the commission.” This time, she directed her attention toward Nick Russo, who  records audio of meetings for the Ward 5 Archive website, shouting at him, “And you... you know something? You do this deliberately. You sit here, sit here innocently like you’re just recording something. But the whole goal is that you, this white supremist [sic] here.” While saying this, Henderson looked at a resident who had been live-tweeting the meeting. The tweeting resident responded with shock, while Henderson told her “Yeah, and that’s what you are. You are. You’re a white supremist. Your little blogs and your listservs.” 

“You people support bars. You’ve called us niggers,” Henderson continued. “You’re disgusting. You’re disgusting. You’re disgusting. You’re a disgusting white supremist.”