Washington City Paper: Contents for Apr. 8

Washington’s Worst Career Moves
Five men. Five promising futures. Five fuckups.

Cover Story

1. Never Trade Your Job for a Book Deal

Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan has always been a strong supporter of his former police chief, Charles A. Moose.

“I always expected he would be police chief again somewhere within a year,” he told the Washington Post 13 months after the sniper saga that thrust the chief into the national spotlight.

But Duncan should have peered a bit more skeptically into his crystal ball. Though he relayed that vote of confidence as Moose was a finalist for a chief’s job in Minneapolis, it turned out the prognostication was premature: Moose didn’t get that job. He lost the spot to a candidate from Dayton, Ohio.

Nor did he take jobs in Greensboro, N.C., or Sacramento, Calif., that, as he told the Baltimore Sun that year, he’d been approached about through a headhunter. Since then, Moose’s name hasn’t been mentioned for any major openings. He’s a chief without a force.

Not that Moose, now 51, is complaining. His wife, Sandy Moose, reports that the couple have been enjoying post-sniper life at their new home on Oahu, Hawaii. (The former chief is unavailable for comment—an Air Force major, he’s on active duty with the National Guard in San Antonio through the summer.)

The Mooses have sold their properties in the contiguous 48 and now live in a new development, Ocean Pointe, in Ewa Beach. Recently, the chief bought a new Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail. “He goes up to North Shore and buys us corn for dinner,” Sandy Moose says.

Charles Moose’s transition from policing MoCo to Hawaii Five-O began with a single tear.... Continued

Issue of Apr. 8 - 14, 2005

News and Features

Washington’s Worst Career Moves
Five men. Five promising futures. Five fuckups.
Cover Story By Mike DeBonis
Unexcused Absence
Jessica Proctor missed nearly two months of school trying to get in.
The City By Ryan Grim
Hall Monitor
Selected readings from D.C. Public Schools incident reports
The City By Mike Kanin
Race for the Sinecure
The City By Erik Wemple
Price Pick of the Week
Celebrating the District’s Real-Estate Boom
Seller's Market By Constantine Caloudas

Columns

Wet Blanket Coverage
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Mummy Dearest
City Desk By John Metcalfe
Rubbernecking
City Desk By Dave Jamieson
SHADOW BOXING
Loose Lips By James Jones

Eats

Poultry in Motion
Young & Hungry By Todd Kliman

Movies

All the Rage
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
Root of the Problem
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski
Sahara
Film Reviews By Mario Correa

Music

Age Before Beauty
Music Review By Joe Banno
I Wish I May, I Wish I Might...
Music Review By Michael Crowley

Theater

Solo Projects
Theater Review By Trey Graham
Spinning Their Wheels
Theater Review By Bob Mondello

Arts and Events

Biblical Sense
Artifacts By Heather Morgan Shott
Cage Your Television
Artifacts By Bidisha Banerjee
From the Mouths of Babes
Books By Justin Moyer
Close to the Bones
Mike Lowery has five fingers on each hand, wears his underwear on the inside, and doesn’t have a skull for a face. But he’s more like a Skeleton Kid than you might think.
Arts By Adam Mazmanian
Culture Vultures
What does it take to get an arts grant from the D.C. government?
Culture Vultures By Mike Kanin