The Night Note: 10/27/10

News you need to know.

The following stories are brought to you by the fine folks on the News4 assignment desk.

BENEVOLENT GHOST BELIEVED TO HAUNT MANSION
Inside NoVA: "The sound of footsteps on the stairs when no one else is around and swirling candle flames are among the unusual occurrences Gloria Rouse has experienced at Rockledge Mansion in Occoquan.

For the first time — and for one day only — Rockledge will be included Sunday in the town’s ghost tours so others have the opportunity to experience the unexplainable.

While Rouse has not seen the Confederate soldier believed to haunt the 250-year-old building that looms over Mill Street, she believes he — or something — is there and means no harm."

HERNDON COULD FACE LITIGATION OVER ORDINANCE
Fairfax Times: "A new legal challenge to the Town of Herndon's controversial anti-solicitation ordinance has been made by two organizations that claim it is unconstitutional.

On Tuesday, the Los-Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the Advancement Project -- which calls itself a civil rights law, policy and communications "action tank" -- sent a joint letter to the Town Council and Town Attorney Richard Kaufman.

The letter argues the ordinance violates the First and Fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and is unfairly aimed at day laborers."

MUSIC COULD RETURN TO WESTOVER BEER GARDEN BY SPRING
ARLNow: "In August, the county zoning enforcement office told the owners of the Westover Market that concerts and crowds were not allowed at the store’s popular outdoor beer garden. Since then the store has hired a land use attorney, drummed up impressive public support and taken steps to meet the county’s requirements.

Soon, the store will submit plans to the county for building new handicap-accessible bathrooms. Completing code-compliant bathrooms would be the first step toward getting approval to operate the beer garden as an entertainment venue."

MD MEN CONVICTED OF BILKING CHURCHES
Washington Post: "A jury has convicted two Maryland men accused in a scheme that bilked 21 black churches in Detroit and other Michigan cities of about $660,000.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox said in a statement Tuesday that Wayne County Circuit Court jurors deliberated three days before finding Michael Morris of Waldorf and William Perkins of Oxon Hill guilty on three felony counts including racketeering, conspiracy to commit false pretenses, and three counts of false pretenses."

POLITICAL SIGNS HAVE SOME SEEING RED (OR BLUE)
Gazette: "As Election Day rapidly approaches, a sign of the times are political signs. They abound, and some of them are not just blocking the scenery — they're also violating local law.

While the message on a sign is not regulated, the size is, depending on the zoning where it is located and its proximity to roads, said Susan Scala-Demby, zoning manager for the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services.

While signs on private property do not require a permit, they also are not allowed to exceed a total area of 10 square feet in a residential zone or 100 feet in a commercial zone."

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