Local Leads: 11/12/09

News you need to know

By CHARLIE BRAGALE

Updated 9:00 AM EDT, Thu, Nov 12, 2009

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The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:

C&O CANAL HOLE
Fall hikers and holiday diners at the Old Angler's Inn will be seeing the 80-foot breach in the C&O Canal towpath again this year, with no funding available to fill in the gap. Rains from Hurricane Hanna in September 2008 turned a crack in the towpath into a chasm about 1.5 miles south of Great Falls, near Angler's Inn. The break in the path has been there long enough to earn its own nickname, Angler's Breach. Officials at the C&O Canal National Historic Park have been trying to secure funds to repair the breach for over a year. Park Ranger Bill Justice said the repairs could cost approximately $3 million. (Examiner)

LOCAL MORTGAGE TROUBLES
About 30 percent of single-family homeowners with mortgages in the Washington area are under water on their loans, according to data from Zillow.com.Being under water on a loan, which is also called having negative equity, means that the home's current value is less than the original mortgage amount. For example, someone who borrowed $300,000 to buy a home now worth $250,000 is under water. (Fredericksburg.com)

UNSAFE AT SCHOOL
At least one in four students at 25 Montgomery County public middle and high schools did not agree last year with the statement "I feel safe at school." And at 32 of the county's 63 middle and high schools, at least half of the students did not agree with the statement "My things are safe in this school." The annual student surveys are a part of the district's recently released "School Safety and Security at a Glance." At the high school level, 12 of 25 schools had at least 75 percent of students feeling unsafe, up from 11 schools in 2007-08. Only three schools — Potomac's Winston Churchill, Bethesda's Walter Johnson, and Poolesville High — had more than half of their students reporting that their belongings were safe, down from four schools the year before. (Examiner)

ICC NOT FRIENDLY
For much of the past two weeks, Burtonsville resident George Brown has been awoken by an unusual alarm clock. Every night between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., he has been jostled out of his sleep by a loud "BANG, BANG, BANG," the sound of Inter-County Connector bridge construction taking place just 30 yards from his front door, he said. (Gazette)

MANASSAS 100K ANNIVERSARY
Members of the Manassas City Council like the idea of commemorating the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas so much that they’re ready to give up $100,000 to make it happen in 2011. The battle, fought on July 21, 1861, was the first major engagement of the Civil War. Creston M. Owen, chairman of the board of Virginia Civil War Events Inc., was before the board Monday asking for the money. (insidenova.com)

DRINK UP IN LEESBURG GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS
Leesburg Mayor Kristen Umstattd and the Town Council voted 5-2 at their Nov. 10 meeting to change an ordinance that said alcohol was not allowed at town facilities. Now, the ordinance gives those renting four different town facilities the option to serve beer and wine. Those facilities are the lower level conference room and patio at Ida Lee Park, the tennis bubble at Ida Lee Park, the tennis pavilion at Ida Lee Park and the building at Olde Izaak Walton Park. (Loudoun Times)