Council Hopeful's Car Is Set Afire

[MountainLaurel]

Damn! Give this woman some props for bravery.

D.C. Council candidate Kathy Henderson awoke early Friday to the loud crackling sound of her 1991 Mercury Capri burning out of control.

It was the second time someone had attacked her car, and it was a message that could not be ignored. The fire destroyed the car. Henderson, an advisory neighborhood commissioner, is seeking the Democratic nomination to the Ward 5 council seat.

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The next day she found that her campaign signs had been removed from supporters' yards.

She is not the only local politician and activist who has been victimized.

"Even if you're caught up in the heat of political battle, I don't think another candidate would go up into people's yards," said Henderson, who has more than a dozen opponents for the nomination. "I do think it's someone who doesn't want me to be in the race and is trying to send me a none-to-subtle message that I need to cease and desist and move."

But she has no plans to do that. Henderson is a vocal and visible opponent of drug dealers in her neighborhood. She took D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey on a tour of the area. Although police and fire officials have told her the car fire was an act of arson, Henderson has chosen to ignore the message and vowed to continue her campaign and anti-crime efforts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR2006070500658.html