a twist on tradition. welcome to "news4 this week." >> hello. i'm pat lawson muse. wear going tshow you some of the more interesting store he stories making news this week. among them, cover your ears. we wiltell you why one northern virginia town has been named the most obscene in the nation for the second year in a row. a twist on tradition. a local county courthouse has the manger scenes and chrisas trees to celebrate the season but that's not the only display you will see here. we will show you how one man is going beyond the call of giving for the holidays to help our community year-round. first, could the wikiweek leakcontroversy hurt your chances of finding a job?

the folks that run one local college think so. more on the wikileaks warning. >> reporter: george whington university's elliott school of international affairs is just a stone's throw from the u.s. state department. after graduation, many students trudgethose few blocks through foggy bottom in search of employment. the university is warning them that cessing wikileaks files could imperil their job quest. as first reported by the g.w. hatchet the e-mail stas viewing wikileaks could amount to unthey areized computer access. quote, we would like to warn against accessing these files directly. students who hold or are seeking to security clearances risk losing those privileges or jobs. the e-mail goes on to say additionally questions may arise during back ground interviews or polygraphs. it comes as the u.s. attorney general says he's hopeful that those responsible for the wikileaks disclosures wi be brought to justice. >> we have an active yen going

serious investigation of tat matter. >> reporter: the elliott school students we spoke to said despite first amendment concerns they would probably avoid the wikileaks files. >> it may be something that i have tohink about. >> i have avoided definitely avoided going to wikileaks since i have gotten the mails. i feel shamed for having avoid going to those links because i feel le it is something we should be able to do without any fear of repercussions but do understand the -- employers will look at that sort of thing. >> reporter: jackie bensen, news4. columbia university is also warning international relations students there not to post any info the may have seen on wikileaks on social networking sites. after months of debate over freedom of religion and freedom of speech, the loudoun county board of supervisors this year agreed to allow holiday displays on the grounds of the courthouse in leesburg, virginia. residents may have gotn more than what they expected. chris gordon has that story.

>> reporter: sarah was excited to show the nativity scene to r son and it is back at the loudoun county courthouse grounds. last year all displays were banned based on separation of church and state but a compromise allows a diversity of display this year like this sign put up by a group freedom from religion. and display knocked over by e wind that says that it is a letter from jesus. >> i absolutely love the manger. love it. but that'ses wh christmas -- meaning of christmas. i love the christmas season. the other thing you are talking about, not so excited about that. >> reporter: loudoun county supervisor delgaudio says up to 10 permits for displays were issued on a first come first serve basis and that allowed the holiday tradition of 50 years to continue. >> the option was no nativity or having the nativity. i worked with others who are pam with what the balance is and

balance is to have the nativity and you have to hav free speech. >> reporte we are told there will be more displays here at the courthouse later this week. including a mannequin display of luke skywalker from "star wars" celebrating jediism. there will be another display from an atheist group. and another manger. >> personally i don't think it is very good. we ended up instead of having a nice christmas look to the courthouse, as beautiful, historic courthouse, we end up with a hodgepodge. >> reporter: across the street from the courthouse the restaurant lightfoot is festively decorated for the holiday season, both inside and out. >> i think that the holidays displays are fine to have the mixture on the courthouse lawn. >> reporter:our favorite is? >> christmas tree. >> reporte to get it back this year, there has been a long debate. >> we had to share the -- along with everybody. i don't thk that's fine. >>eporter: this year's displays encourage an exchange

of ideas as well as an exchange of presents. in leesburg, virginia, chris gordon, news4. for the second year in a row a northern virginia community has been labeled the most obscene plac in america. a magazine ranked cities based on their internet searches and from that ashburn, virginia, emerges as this year's most obscene. derrick ward has moren what ashburn residents think of their new label. >> reporter: lovely ashburn. the suburb ial. home to corporations and commerce and according to the website businessinsider.com more potty mouth than just anywhere else. they listed google searchrends for the legendary seven dirty words made famous or more infamous by george carlin. it sms, though says the website, more people from ashburn look those words up than those from anywhere else in the country over the past year. >> that's obsne. >> reporter: indeed folks we talked to said it is not the kind of thing they think of or

want others to think of when they hear ashburn. >> ashburn is a nice place to live as far as i'm concerned. great schools and great families. >> that's a shame. my daughter doesn't know those words. >> reporter: most of those people looking up tho words must have been doing some scholarly research because we only found a couple of folks that would admit to using any one of the seven. >> couple of minutes ago. >> reporter: then there was the guy from manassas. don't worry, no part of that name made the list. he subskribs when in ashburn you shld do what the ashburners do. did he? >> too recently. >> reporter: based on completely unscientific survey from the people of ashburn then don't seem to think they will be better or an worse off for having this dubious distinction. as a matter of fact, one person we caught up with has a little something to say about the fact

there is such a list at all. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: derrick ward, news4. >> businessinsider.com has been looking at the data the past couple of years. previous cities that topped the list, louisville, kentucky, and herndon, virginia. when something is late we often sayetter late than never. coming up on "news4 this week," the bizarre story of a holiday package that arrived at one family's house one year after it was sent. meet a d.c couple on the cutting edge lightning fast. lightning strong.

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we just came up with a simple puzzle idea. >> their idea, word puzzle game, was a big hit. >> that was important for us. i ink it really helped launch our company. >> the company which they also named amagi. keith quit his day job and natalia quit hers. >> i was nervous but excited. >> this is where we build the content. >> keith builds an edits content. >> like building a movie set. you know, we have to take all of these props and pieces and backdrop. put the all together. >> natalia handled the marketing and sound effects. >> sounds played through the computer. >> and she writes the music. >> iwas really cool to discover that i could do it. >> grawe should do them like wh you are stomping ruined.

>> for him working on the apps is like play time. >> you get to be fun and creative and not doing -- you are trying to play on people's imaginations and not trying to necessarilyplay on the boring reality of every day life. >> the creative amgi team developed six games so far. games like little red three app in the u.s. which, y know, is phenomenal. >> rorter: together the apps have been downloaded more than 1.5 million times on the iphone. more than 35,000times on the ip. and they are already working on their next game. >> it is a 3-d action adventure game where you are a little kid and that is saving the planet from an alien invasion. >> it will be really awesome.

♪ >> creating apps fun for you. still ahead on news4 this week," how do you decide which cause you want to give to this holiday season? liz crenshaw has a charity checklist. a puzzling package. a maryland family tries to figure out why their christmas gifts from a relative arrive ad gifts from a relative arrive ad whol forty years ago, he wasn't worried about retirement. he'd yet to hear of mutual funds, iras, or annuities. back then, had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our mility, veterans and their families. from investments... to life insurance...

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'tis the season for giving. when it comes to giving pets as presents the shelter says hold off. the best time to get a pet is when it is calm in your household. shelters become packed during and immediately after the holiday season because pple reize that they can't care for their pets. the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals also suggests picking older pets. puppies and kittens are cute, of course. they require a lot of attention. and if you are set on giving an animal as a gift make sure the

recipient is prepared emotionally and fancially to receive. it is also a good idea to let the person pick their own pet and you cover the cost. that way they get to choose a t that's right for their lifestyle. many of us are also giving to charities this time of year. but with so many organizations asking for your money, how do you decide where to give? and who may be taking advantage of your wallet? liz crenshaw has a charity's checklist. >> they think i'm rich. i cannot give to all of these people. robinancy considers herself and her husband charitable people but not rich. >> we do give to six, seven, eight charities or something and then through the church. >> reporter: the problem, charities continuously solicit them throughout the year. mailings often arrive at the same time. >> this is like in one day.

kidney walk. feeding america. this goes on and on. toys for to the. and they keep coming and keep coming. >> reporter: many charity appeals come with gifts. >> holiday gift pack. we have some grocery lists. then we havall the return addresses. yes, we have a million returns. you better live here forever. >> i know. what am gig to do with all of these things? >> reporter: for starters don't let guilt lead to give. >> there is a lot of competition to get attention in your mailbox. charities ar competing with each other. nd me a donation. >> reporter: how do people end up with so many different appeals? >> little amounts to a lot of different charities, that's how you get on numerous mailing lists. >> reporter: better business bureau's wise giving alliance ts charities up against the accountability standards. >> we look at 20 different aspects of a charity's operations ranging from governance to finances to

fund-raising practices to website disclosures. >> reporter: you can check out a charity report on the website it includes ways the charities spend its money and it says that 54% of the charities it checks out meet is the accountability standards. we are tough. little over half of meet o standards but that's what we are here to separate the weak from the shaft, to help people make good giving decisions. >> reporter: other warnings, be wary of chifrties that spring up overnight often in kweks current events or natural disasters. watch out for similar sounding names. phony charitiesill use the name that sounds just like a legitimate one. beware of promises or sweepstakes winnings in exchange for a contribution. with so many appeals out there, how do they decide which charity to give to? >> i had cancer, i have give to cancer. richard had heart, we give to heart. we have friends with diabetes.

we give to diabetes. you know, you would like to give everybody. but you -- just rely can't. >> reporter: liz crenshaw, news4. >> if you want to check out a charity before you donate, you can visit the better business wise getting alliance. you can call 703-276-0100. the federal trade commission also has a charity checklist that you can turn to. you can find that list at our website. nbcwashington.com. search charity. a maryland family recently received a b of christmas gifts. a box that was iled in december of last year. darcy spencer talked to the family about the unusual lat delivery. >> reporter: last week the henry family received a box in the mail full of christmas presents from justine in orlando. it said open the box. so they did. something wasn't quite right. the clothes were too tight and belt too small.

and the candy canes, they were stale. >> my son's shirt was a size too small. my daughter's belt didn't -- wasn't even close. reporter: debbie henry texted her sister-in-law to thank her for this rather bizarre box of gifts. >> i said what package? i didn't send you a package. i am not that organized yet. wait sclal don't eat the candy canes! they are really old! >> reporte as it turns tout package had been sent by the nielsens one year ago. the date marked december 17, 2009. but it just arrived at the henry's doorstep more than 8650 miles away. talk about snail mail. >> it is slow. extra slow. >> when you heard it was from a year ago i thought that was crazy. that's ridiculous. how can tey misplace a box and then send it at the exact time they were supposed to send it before a year later?

>> reporter: where this box was the last yea remains a mystery. it was addressed properly and it was paid for and it hadn't been opened until now. the postal service told the nielsens bause the box was not insured it was than given a tracking number. there's no way to solve this christmas mystery. >> i was -- would make sense to me it just -- it got shoved somewhere and just was than ever found. reporter: as far as the henry kids are concerned when it comes to christmas presents, it is better late than never. >> i think the stock rings really cool. i'm denitely going to hang that up in my room. >> reporter: dars write spencer, news4. folks that come together to help the city's homeless all year long.

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streets? this time of year is harsh on our area's homeless. the salvation army helps th year-round thanks to the generosity of one man in particular. news4's craig melvin has the story. >> reporter: if you spent any time in downtown d.c., you have seen this. >> t of them are veterans. they worked hard for a long time ask came up on hard times. and they drink too much. and here they are. and it is tough to get out of this oncyou are in it. >> reporter: for many of the roughly 6,000 homeless that live and sleep on the streets of the nation's capital, this is the dinner bell. >> 365 days a year, christmas, thanksgiving, new year's, we are out here feeding them. >> reporter: workers and volunteers set u six times a night, intersections around the city, and the hungry when wait and line up and get nervous when they are late. and the 25 years they have been feedg the salvation army estimates it served about 875,000 meals. that's a lot of food and a lot

ofmoney. the program costs about $125,000 a year. major steve morris recalls meeting the man who wanted to help. >> came out and saw it and said i'm shaped by a mother that insisted he share. beyond the simple genuine desire to just do something good,

something else fields his work, his ith. hes a proud muslim and aware of many of the perception >> 1. billion muslims. not all the fuss are the ones who put a gun under you and said my way or the highway. >> reporter: state-driven service created aond with the struggling on the streets and those trying to help them. >> that's where he and i connected. and that's -- we are friendsow because these people are getting fed based on this. >> i believe in the spirit of sharing and tolerance. >> reporter: cig melvin, news4. >> the salvation army says laconte agreed to pick up the tab for the patrol for the third year. that's it for news4. i'm pat lawson muse. thanks for joining us and have a great day. [ mom ] my son only wanted one toy this year.

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