Port City Dispatches: Kirby Homicide, Old Dominion Boat Club, Fire at Misha's, Bike Lanes and Yates Corner

Here are some of the week's important, interesting and fun stories concerning Alexandria and its people.

From Alexandria Patch sites:

Kirby Homicide: Alexandria Police Chief Reaches Out to Citizens for Information — By Drew Hansen

There remains no person of interest in the violent shooting of Ronald Kirby inside his Rosemont home, Alexandria Police Chief Earl Cook said Thursday afternoon.

Cook said police are working diligently around the clock and asked Alexandria residents for help in the investigation into the "atrocious and tragic incident."

“It’s extremely important to have the cooperation of citizens in gathering information,” Cook said. “We’re asking anyone who may have been in contact with [Kirby] in a social way in the last four to six weeks with anything of import to call us.”

Alexandria police are asking anyone with information or who may have seen or heard something suspicious in the vicinity of Kirby’s Elm Street home to call 703-746-6864.

Kirby’s widow, Anne Gray Haynes, told NBC Washington Thursday she believes a door to the home may have been left unlocked. Kirby was working from the house the day he was killed.  

"Ron had no enemies," Gray Haynes told NBC Washington. "The only reason somebody would have come in here is they thought they could get cash or something of value and they thought the house was empty and unfortunately it wasn't."

For more on the Kirby homicide, see:

• Officials, Colleagues Remember Ron Kirby
• Alexandria Police Chief: 'A Lot of Work Yet to be Done' in Kirby Homicide Investigation
• Suspicious Death Ruled Homicide; Police Identify Victim as Ronald Kirby
• Alexandria Police Investigating Suspicious Death on Elm Street

Other Patch stories:

• Boat Club Seeks Chance to Present its Position at Pivotal Hearing
• Alexandria vs. Old Dominion Boat Club: How Will it End?
• Pedestrian Killed in Key Drive Crash
• Margaret 'Marlee' Clarke, Alexandria's First Female Vice Mayor, Dies at 86
• Fire Crews Respond to Small Blaze at Misha's
• Veterans Day: 'An Opportunity to Talk About How Great Our Is’
• Officials Honor Baxley's Tireless Work as Director of Community Lodgings
• Yates Corner to Open in December
• Alexandria Fire Chief Named to McAuliffe's Transition Committee
• Amsterdam Falafelshop Eyes Alexandria as Part of Aggressive Expansion
• City Appoints Retired Alexandria Police Sergeant as New Chief Animal Control Officer
• Mixologist Faile Joins Neighborhood Restaurant Group
• Virginia High School Football Playoffs: Titans Fall to Stallions
• The Last Time the Titans Made the Playoffs...

From elsewhere:

Mt. Vernon Community School May Return To Traditional Calendar — By Carla Branch, AlexandriaNews.Org

Mt. Vernon Community School Principal Peter Balas and his staff came to the Alexandria School Board last night to propose that the school abandon the year-round modified calendar and return to a traditional school year. The Board received the proposal and will vote on it at the first December meeting.

“We just have not accomplished what we had hoped to accomplish with the modified calendar,” Balas said. “We had hoped that with shorter breaks, our English Language Learners would retain what they learned better than they did with the entire summer off. That has not been the case and we believe that a return to a traditional calendar with an intense summer program, which focuses on ELL students will serve these students better and close the widening achievement gap.”

More:

• King Street Bike Lane Battle Heats Up in Alexandria — By Adam Tuss, NBC Washington
• Bagged bag tax could make comeback — By Anna Harris, Alexandria Times
• Girma Gebre and Kellyn Johnson Post Impressive Victories In Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon — AlexandriaNews.Org
• Looking for rainy signs of social status in Old Town Alexandria — By John Kelly, The Washington Post