Sometimes there just isn’t much public information available about a given monument we might want to write about. Such is the case with the curious-if-pedestrian and assumedly unofficial memorial on the north end of the McMillan Reservoir, on the far side of Howard University. There stands a tree — the middlemost tree, in the photo above, sans leaves — and to it is nailed or otherwise affixed a small bronze plaque dedicated to the memory of … well, in the time since it was placed there, the tree has grown around it. “UIS ALBERTO VASQUEZ,” to be sure. And whatever it was happened in mid-1997.

During the second week of May 1997, President Clinton had been defending his wife’s Whitewater testimony and D.C. Councilmember Linda Cropp was hastily arranging an emergency vote on a federal bailout for the city. Back then Marion Barry was halfway through his final term as mayor and soccer was the District’s only professional sport in season. On Saturday the 10th, the Post devoted all of 107 words on the inside of the paper’s Metro section to a common — all-too-common — incident.