Updates

CORRECTION: Rachel MacCleery's e-mail address was listed incorrectly in last week's issue. It is Rachel.Maccleery@dc.gov. (Ms. MacCleery is the DDOT transportation planner for Ward 6.)

KINGSMAN: According to a Charter Schools Development Corporation brochure, the school has been renamed the Richard E. Thompson Kingsman Charter School Campus. Mr. Thompson was the founder of the Charter Schools Development Corporation and is the chairman of the Thompson Publishing Group.

EXCELLO: During the Board's status hearing on Wednesday, ANC 6A06 Commissioner Jessica Ward reports, the Board ordered protestants and Excello to attend a second mediation session. During the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board's fact-finding hearing on Sept. 3, the Board determined that Excello was no longer selling single-serving containers of beer. The Board assessed no penalties for the violations that had been found earlier in the year by an Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration inspector. (Disclosure Note: I am one of the protestants of the renewal of Excello's liquor license.)

"DO-NOT-CALL" LIST: Enforcement of the federal do-not-call list was blocked by a ruling on Thursday by the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Rules prohibiting companies from placing telemarketing calls to people who request to be placed on this list had been scheduled to take effect on Wednesday. The court said the regulations violate the companies' First Amendment (free speech) rights, in part because the restrictions apply to commercial calls but not to calls seeking donations to charities or political organizations. The Federal Trade Commission has appealed the court's decision and has filed a motion for an emergency stay of the portion of the court's order that bars the FTC from enforcing the rules. "You can still put your number on the national registry, but for now, telemarketers are not required to comply with it," the FTC says on its Web site. To list your number, visit http://donotcall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222 from the number you are listing. Before the court order, as reported in the July 6 issue of the Corner Forum, if you registered before Sept. 1, most telemarketers would have had to stop calling, and consumers could file complaints, after Oct. 1, and if you registered on or after Sept. 1, most telemarketers would have had to stop calling three months after you registered.

PRERECORDED TELEMARKETING MESSAGE LAWSUIT: I went to small claims court on Friday in my case against the company I am suing (as reported in the Sept. 7 and Sept. 14 issues of the Corner Forum) for placing prerecorded telephone solicitation calls to my residential phone lines. I received two more calls placed by or on behalf of the company on Sept. 10, after I filed my initial complaint, so I increased the requested damages from $1,000 to $2,000 (the law allows lawsuits for damages of at least $500 per violation.) The company representative and I were assigned to confidential mediation. We were unable to reach a settlement during the mediation, so we were scheduled for a new court date, on Oct. 20. One key issue will be whether each of my two home phone numbers are a "residential telephone line" under the law. Both are listed by Verizon as residential lines, and both are in my home, but I use one of them mostly for non-personal (freelancing and Corner Forum) purposes. So I'm trying to figure out what Congress, when it passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, meant by "residential telephone line." Did it intend to restrict calls to all phone lines in the home or only to those phone lines used primarily for personal purposes? (Over the last year, I received three calls to my home-office number, and one call to my home-home number.) If any readers have any suggestions, they'd be very welcome!

COMINGS AND GOINGS: If you have met one of the area's new residents or know someone about to move out, please ask them if they'd like to introduce themselves or say goodbye. According to the Long & Foster Web site, http://www.longandfoster.com, viewed today, the real estate listings for the Corner Forum area have changed from Sept. 20 as follows: 408 13th St. NE is no longer listed. The following listings have not changed: 1246 Duncan Pl. NE ($365,000) and 1306 Emerald St. NE ($298,000). NOTE: If you would like to volunteer to compile these for-sale listings regularly or once in a while, please call me at 544-2447 or e-mail news@thecornerforum.org. Your assistance would be appreciated!

CORNER FORUM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The following people helped produce or distribute the Sept. 21 issue of the Corner Forum: Marc Borbely, 536 13th St. NE, and Sharon Cochran, 1300 block of Emerald Street NE. There are 81 households in the Corner Forum area that are subscribed to the newsletter (29 on E Street, 26 on Emerald Street, 19 on 13th Street, and 7 on Duncan Place).

— Marc Borbely, 536 13th St. NE§