Gaithersburg’s Hometown Newspaper | Serving Kentlands, Lakelands, Quince Orchard Park and More
The
TOWN
Vol. 11, No. 5
Courier
With daily news updates on Facebook.
April 4, 2014
Kentlands Titleholders Sound
Off on Code Compliance
By Karen O’Keefe
A
n
code compliance Continued on page 11
KCA Board Told Wall Repairs
Were Needed in December 2013
By Karen O’Keefe
A
fter a large section of retaining wall owned
by the Kentlands Citizens Assembly (KCA)
collapsed along Quince Orchard Road on
March 30, forcing the evacuation of two families
and the condemnation of their homes, a Town
Courier investigation found the KCA Board was
briefed Dec. 11 on a report by Gardner James Engineering that urged more frequent and thorough
monitoring of the wall, as well as drainage repairs
to the wall.
At the same meeting, a proposal to approve a
contract for consulting services with the Columbia, Md.-based consulting firm specializing in
building and site repair and restoration services
was approved 5-0.
Following the December 2013 meeting minn
wall collapse Continued on page 8
By Gina Gallucci-White
Photo | Submitted
Montgomery County’s Coalition for the
Homeless opened its first Safe Haven for
veterans suffering from mental illness in
Darnestown on March 19.
Home at Last
Newly Funded Program Aims to
Help One of the County’s Most
Vulnerable Populations
By Jenny Chen
The Town Courier
309 Main Street
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
Photo | John Ready
On March 30, a portion of the retaining wall on Quince Orchard Road near Kentlands collapsed. Northbound lanes of Quince Orchard Road
between Hillstone Road and Pawnee Drive remain closed.
‘Trailer Park Musical’ to Take Center Stage
PRSRT-STD
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
GAITHERSBURG, MD
Permit #1722
proposed amendment to
the administrative resolution that outlines the Kentlands Citizens Assembly’s “due
process enforcement procedures
for addressing alleged violations
of the governing documents” was
withdrawn from consideration by
the Kentlands Citizens Assembly
(KCA) Board at their meeting on
March 24 following a heated discussion. The proposal, part of a
larger amendment to Administrative Resolution “No. 4,” would
have given the Board of Trustees
the authority to bypass the hearings and notifications in the normal Board of Code Compliance
(BOCC) process and, instead,
refer violations immediately to
the community attorney for legal
action.
The March 24 session was attended by an unusually large
number of residents — more than
30 — and by KCA Counsel Jason Fisher, an attorney from the
Bethesda law firm of Lerch, Early & Brewer. Fisher is a law firm
principal and chair of its community associations practice. Fish-
er sat with the board of trustees
at the conference table during
the session, which was the KCA
Board’s regular monthly meeting.
Although the amendment under consideration specifically concerned procedures to resolve code
violations that remain uncorrected following BOCC actions,
several titleholders went off-topic
during the meeting to vent frustration with other things related
to property inspections and code
violations including specific provisions in the code, the overall
clarity of code language, the clarity and tone of language in letters
sent to describe alleged violations,
the use of an outside contractor to
conduct house inspections, and
the fact that, at times, code violations exist in property owned by
the KCA that are not corrected.
There were also complaints
that the high numbers of citations
and the relatively minor nature of
some of the violations cited was
contributing to a toxic “neighbor
against neighbor” environment
in Kentlands.
Kentlands Board of Trustees
I
f this year’s winter storms were
hard for you to bear, think
about those who didn’t have
permanent shelter for weathering
those storms. In the Washington,
D.C., metropolitan area in 2013,
639 veterans were homeless, acn
safe havens Continued on page 9
W
hen asked to describe “The Great American Trailer Park Musical,” Director Lee
Rosenthal picks a popular television show
to describe the comedy. “It’s basically ‘The Jerry
Springer Show’ on steroids,” she said, laughing.
“That’s really what it is. ... It’s just an escape. It’s
so ridiculous. The whole storyline is so incredibly
ridiculous. It’s just fun.”
Produced by the Rockville Musical Theatre
(RMT), the show is set to take the Arts Barn stage
April 4-20, Fridays through Sundays. Tickets are
$16 for city residents and $18 for non-residents.
Set in a Florida trailer park, the musical features
an ensemble cast that includes a woman named Linoleum whose husband is on death row and Pippi,
an exotic dancer on the run from her crazy ex-boyfriend who falls into an affair with a married man
whose wife has agoraphobia.
The 90-minute, adult-themed show has seven
cast members and features 13 musical numbers. Auditions took place in January, and rehearsals began
the second week of February.
Elizabeth Hester, who portrays Linoleum, or Lin
for short, had seen the show performed in Baltimore
and saw how much fun the audience had.
Photo | Bruce Rosenberg
The Rockville Musical Theatre’s “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” opens April 4 at the Arts Barn. Cast members are Meghan Elkins
(Jeannie Garstecki), Matt Williams (Norbert Garstecki), Jason Damaso
(Duke), Amanda Spellman (Pippi), Elissa Borzilleri (Betty), Julia Donato
(Pickles), and Elizabeth Hester (Lin).
The show is “not something that is overdone, especially in the D.C. area,” Hester said. “I don’t recall it being done before around here. It’s always fun
to do something a little different. It’s not something
that everyone has on their season roster every year.”
The sarcastic character Lin got her name because she
n
musical Continued on page 9
Page 2
The Town Courier
COLOR
April 4, 2014
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014 Page 3
K25 Scavenger Hunt Begins Saturday AROUND TOWN
By Karen O’Keefe
T
he Kentlands Community
Foundation continues to roll
out 25 planned events to celebrate the community’s 25th anniversary, and next up is a photographic
scavenger hunt. The hunt begins Saturday, April 5 and ends 25 days later
at midnight on April 30.
Architect and Kentlands resident
Ruthzaly Weich designed the scavenger hunt to be fun and educational.
The clues describe places or items in
Kentlands and relate to new urbanism—the planning philosophy that
emphasizes walkable, sustainable
communities of commingled homes
and businesses.
Participants need to follow the clues
through Kentlands, taking a picture
of each puzzle solved along the way.
One prize will be awarded for finishing the hunt first, and 25 other
prizes will be awarded for the best
photograph of each clue revealed. Although they can finish sooner, participants will have 25 days to complete
the scavenger hunt.
“It will be a learning process because the clues are designed to be educational, “said Weich.
Now a consultant and the Kentlands Community Foundation’s new
urbanism board member, Weich
worked for six years in the Kentlands
office of Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ)
& Company, the firm that designed
the new urbanist community.
“I used to give Kentlands tours
when I was working for DPZ,” Weich said. “Today, as a member of the
Foundation board, I work to promote
new urbanism as a volunteer.”
Weich said the clues will vary in
difficulty and format. “Some of them
are simple and straightforward,” she
thehot spot explained. “Some others will be less
so.
“People can contact me at the website with questions or if they need
hints, and I will respond as soon as
I can.”
Weich said her goal in designing
the clues was to allow people to learn
about new urbanism and have fun
at the same time. “People will learn
about new urbanism, about the design process and about key concepts,
as they learn about what to photograph,” she said.
The K25 Photography Scavenger
Hunt is open to anyone. Information
and the clues will be posted online
at kentlands25.com. For hints about
individual clues, email scavhunt@
kentlands25.org.
Compiled by Pam Schipper
Senior Bee
Friends of the Library, Montgomery County hosts
Seasoned Spellers: A Senior Spelling Bee at the Gaithersburg Public Library, April 5, 11 a.m. Montgomery
County residents aged 55 and older will compete in
a celebration of words. For more information, visit
www.folmc.org.
Mulch, Mulch
Despite Jack Frost’s determination to overstay
his welcome this winter, spring has arrived. Both
Northwest High School and Quince Orchard High
School booster clubs hold their annual mulch sales on
Saturday, April 5. For more information, visit www.
nwhsbooster.org or www.qohsboosters.com.
Note: It is important to submit photos
correctly, so please read the online instructions carefully.
Maureen Stiles & Phil Fabrizio
What are you looking forward to enjoying when — and if — spring comes? Here’s what shoppers at Lowes
Home Improvement in Kentlands had to say.
Photo | City of Gaithersburg
Residents help to make last year’s Green Up Day a success in
Washingtonian Woods.
Green Up
“Bike riding! Well, there is such
a huge list, but being outside with
my kids and not having to go to the
gym to work out.”
Diana Goslin
Gaithersburg
“I am a hula-hoop instructor, so
I am looking forward to getting out
outside to teach!”
Maria Colella, aka Hoop
Zombie
Washington, D.C.
“Spring means the work will be
done and we can put our house up
for sale for the spring market and I
can relax.”
Pat Clark
Potomac
“Walking barefoot.”
George Bates
yourviews
Please: No “Silent Spring”
Living in the Kentlands and Lakelands, offers a special joy: to walk on the pathways around the lakes in our
neighborhood. This, even more so in the spring when the symphony of birds singing fills the air. My joy was
substantially stunted last year when I witnessed the encounter of a cat and brood of ducklings trailing behind their
mother.
I will spare you the horrible details, but please know this:
The American Bird Conservancy estimates that up to 500 million birds are killed each year by cats — about half
by pets and half by feral felines.
Cats that live in the wild or indoor pets allowed to roam outdoors kill from 1.4 billion to as many as 3.7 billion
birds in the continental U.S. each year. Cats are known to kill rabbits as well.
This according to ornithologist Peter Marra of the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute.
So please, feline lovers, keep your cats indoors. Let the birds sing and live this spring, at least for a while.
Michael Queen
Kentlands
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/29/cats-wild-birds-mammals-study/1873871/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/science/21birds.html
Beautify your community while also protecting local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay. According to
Kentlands Go Green, “by picking up plastic bags and
bottles around these lakes, you are improving the water quality that flows into the Muddy Branch stream
that then goes into the Potomac. The Potomac River
then flows into the Chesapeake Bay that empties out
to the Atlantic Ocean. Plastic debris travels thousands
of miles into the ocean currents.”
Go Green has teamed up with The Muddy Branch
Alliance and the Lakelands Community Association
to offer three community cleanup opportunities on
the city of Gaithersburg’s Green Up Day on Saturday,
April 5.
• Kentlands Community: Meet at the Kentlands
Clubhouse at 9 a.m.
• Lakelands Community: Meet at the Lakelands
Clubhouse at 9 a.m.
• Lake Varuna: Meet at Lake Varuna, Lakelands
at 1 p.m.
The city of Gaithersburg will supply pickup sticks
and the Alice Ferguson Foundation provides bags.
Volunteers will concentrate on the areas surrounding
the lakes, but trash will also be picked up throughout
the communities.
Quince Orchard Park sponsors its own community
spring cleaning, 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers should
meet in the Quince Orchard Park Community Center
parking lot. To assure adequate supplies are on hand
for volunteers, please contact QOP Board member
Steve Scharf as soon as possible (RNRupSSS@gmail.
com) if you plan to participate. All are welcome.
Volunteers are invited to join the Washingtonian
Woods cleanup effort from 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at
the Washingtonian Woods Clubhouse at 9 a.m.
Montgomery County Student Service Learning
(SSL) hours are available for all Green Up Day cleanup efforts.
Page 4
The Town Courier
City of Gaithersburg Hosts Green Week
cityscene
By Sally Alt
Digital Dish
The city of Gaithersburg launched
its new and improved website on
March 25. The web address remains
the same, but the new site offers better organization and easier navigation,
calendar filtering options, integration
of emergency notifications and social
networking tools, a media library,
email subscriptions and a responsive
design.
Pasta for Police
The Gaitherburg Police Foundation holds its first-ever Pasta for Police fundraiser at Mamma Lucia in
the Fallsgrove Center on April 9, 5
to 10 p.m. Mamma Lucia donates
20 percent of its sales that night to
the Gaithersburg Police Department.
n
April 4, 2014
city scene Continued on page 10
W
ant to learn more about going
green? The city of Gaithersburg
invites local residents to participate in its annual Green Week from April
5-11. This year’s events offer fun and educational activities focused on improving
the environment.
Green Week has been a longstanding tradition in Gaithersburg for more than a decade. The city started hosting Green Week
“to celebrate environmental initiatives and
recognize environmental progress,” as well
as to inform people about pressing needs
for the environment, said Dyan Backe, environmental planner for the city of Gaithersburg.
On Saturday, April 5, the city will host
a Community Green Up Day from 9 a.m.
to noon, when area residents can join hundreds of other volunteers to beautify the
community. The city of Gaithersburg is
currently looking for volunteers to help
clean up local parks, schools, streams and
The Vistas at Quince
Orchard Park
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Photo | City of Gaithersburg
Last year’s Green Week in Gaithersburg included some spring planting.
homeowners’ association common areas. Students who participate in the event
can earn Student Service Learning hours
(SSLs).
The 12th Annual Environmental Awards
Ceremony will be held on Monday, April 7
at 6:15 p.m. at the City Hall Gallery, located at 31 South Summit Ave. The ceremony,
n
POLICEBLOTTER green week Continued on page 10
Compiled by Pam Schipper
Attempted Burglary
On March 21 at 10 p.m., an attempted commercial burglary was reported at
O’Hair Salon located at 424 Main St. A known suspect attempted to enter the business after hours.
From Gaithersburg Police Reports
Call today!
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MEETING CALENDAR
4/7
4/10
Senior Advisory Committee Meeting,
10:30 a.m., Gaithersburg Upcounty
Senior Center
Environmental Awards Ceremony,
6:15 p.m., City Hall Gallery
Mayor and City Council Meeting, 7:30 p.m.,
City Hall Council Chambers
Multicultural Affairs Committee Meeting,
7:30 p.m., Activity Center at Bohrer Park,
Large Conference Room
Olde Towne Advisory Subcommittee Meeting, 7:30 p.m., City Hall Gallery
4/8
RE/MAX REALTY SERVICES
Community Advisory Committee Meeting,
6:30 p.m., Wells/Robertson House Conference Room, 6:30 p.m.
Transportation Committee Meeting, 7 p.m.,
Public Works Conference Room
Environmental Affairs Committee Meeting,
7 p.m., City Hall Gallery
4/9
Board of Appeals Meeting, 7:30 p.m., City
Hall Council Chambers
309 Main Street
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
For Advertising: 301.279.2304
Also on the Web at www.towncourier.com.
Diane Dorney
Publisher
[email protected]
Matt Danielson
President
[email protected]
Pam Schipper
Managing Editor
[email protected]
Debi Rosen
Advertising Manager
301.279.2304
[email protected]
Sandra Christian
Advertising Sales
240.401.1020
[email protected]
Staff Photographer
Phil Fabrizio
Staff Writers
Sally Alt
Nora Caplan
Jenny Chen
Mike Cuthbert
Nora Fitzpatrick
Maureen Friedman
Gina Gallucci-White
Betty Hafner
Sheilah Kaufman
Vanessa Mallory Kotz
Donna Marks
Karen O’Keefe
Matthew Ratz
Syl Sobel
Maureen Stiles
Student Writer
Christina Xu
4/11
Educational Enrichment Committee Meeting, 7:30 a.m., Wells/Robertson House
Conference Room
4/16
Planning Commission Meeting, 7:30 p.m.,
City Hall Council Chambers
4/18
Economic and Business Development Committee Meeting, 7:30 a.m., City Hall Gallery
For the latest information on city meetings,
visit the city of Gaithersburg website at www.
gaithersburgmd.gov.
©2014 Courier Communications
The Town Courier is an independent newspaper published twice a
month that provides news and information for the communities of
Kentlands, Lakelands and Quince Orchard Park in Gaithersburg, Md.
The paper is published by Courier Communications, which is responsible for the form, content and policies of the newspaper. The Town
Courier does not espouse any political belief or endorse any product
or service in its news coverage. Articles and letters submitted for publication must be signed and may be edited for length or content. The
Town Courier is not responsible for any claims made by advertisers
Letters to the Editor and Commentary do not necessarily reflect the
views of the staff, management or advertisers of The Town Courier.
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014 Page 5
POLICEBeat By Gina Gallucci-White
Calls for Service Down for Police
T
he Gaithersburg Police Department
saw an overall decrease in calls for
service last year but an increase in
arrests, according to the agency’s annual
report.
Released in mid-March, the report
showed the department received 30,638
calls in 2013, which is down from the
32,879 taken in 2012. Arrests did increase
from 711 in 2012 to 774 in 2013.
Chief Mark P. Sroka attributes proactive
policing to the decline in calls but increase
in arrests. “The Gaithersburg Police Department is a progressive department that
will always strive to maintain excellence
and professionalism in its service to the cit-
izens and businesses of the city of Gaithersburg,” he said.
Data gathered for the FBI’s Uniform
Crime Reporting showed Part I Offenses
had a 6.1 percent decrease — 1,622 calls
last year while 2012 had 1,728. The categories in the report are homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny,
and auto theft. Four of the categories saw
decreases while two had slight increases.
Homicides remained the same at one for
each year.
Robberies dropped from 77 to 58 — a
24.7 percent decrease — while larcenies
n
GPD ANNUAL REPORT Continued on page 13
Officer, Supervisor Win Annual Awards
By Gina Gallucci-White
A
fter sorting through nominations
and looking over statistical performance, investigative work, case closures and additional information, Gaithersburg Police Department (GPD) Chief
Mark P. Sroka and his command staff recently awarded Officer of the Year to Larbi
Dakkouni and Supervisor of the Year to
Cpl. Brian Hurtt.
“It is with great pleasure that I recognize both officers for their outstanding
commitment to duty, professionalism and
contributions to the citizens of the city of
Gaithersburg and to the Gaithersburg Police Department,” Sroka said.
Born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, Dakkouni grew up looking up to
police officers. “I think it’s a great job to
make a difference in the world and be all
you can be,” he said.
After moving to Gaithersburg in 2003,
Dakkouni graduated from Montgomery
College and University of Maryland-College Park with a degree in criminal justice.
He did an internship at GPD before becoming a police officer in 2012.
He works the evening shift that runs
from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. “You get to meet
people face to face,” he said. You can “focus on traffic. You can focus on (crime).
It’s a little bit of everything.”
n
police awards Continued on page 13
Photos | City of Gaithersburg
Officer of the Year was awarded to Larbi Dakkouni by the
Gaithersburg Police Department.
Cpl. Brian Hurtt was awarded Supervisor of the Year by the
Gaithersburg Police Department.
301-657-3332
301-299-5222
Page 6
The Town Courier
shoptalk
By Jenny Chen
Fleet Feet Sports Spring
Fashion Event Cancelled
The Fleet Feet Sports SPLASH OF
COLOR: Spring Fashion Show scheduled for April 4 has been cancelled due
to unforeseen circumstances. Brittany
Jackett, marketing director, noted that
the show should be rescheduled for
the fall.
Kentlands Nutrition Offers
Fitness Outings
A year ago, Andrea Shirinzadeh’s
mother-in-law encouraged her to join
the high intensity interval trainings and
hiking clubs at Kentlands Nutrition. “At
first I was a little eh ... but [now] going
there is my stress relief. They are all so
positive. Everyone is there for the same
reasons.” Kentlands Nutrition co-owner Kailee McClure says the programs
have been in place for a year now, and
they hope to promote healthy, active
lifestyles through fun activities. Every
Monday and Thursday they host a free
workout class from 6 to 7 p.m., and on
Sunday, April 6 they will be hosting a
free outdoor hike at the Billy Goat Trail.
For more information or to register, call
McClure at 301.821.3116.
n
shop talk Continued on page 17
April 4, 2014
Ton of Fun Parties On
By Pam Schipper
A
s the inaugural Ton of Fun Challenge at Fleet Feet Sports Gaithersburg came to a close with a party on
March 31, there was much cause for celebration. Chris Gault, who owns Fleet Feet
with his wife Robyn, said, “This was really about challenging you as a community
to lose a ton of weight, and we didn’t get
quite to a ton, or 2,000 pounds, but we did
lose a lot.”
Gault announced that 132 participants
had lost 1,015 pounds during the 12-week
program. “That represented 3.95 percent
of body weight,” he added. “You guys
should be really proud of yourselves.”
The numbers were impressive: 83 participants lost 3.1 pounds, 64 people dropped
6.2 pounds, 28 achieved a 13.1-pound
weight loss, and five participants lost more
than 26 pounds. Two “biggest losers” were
honored—one man and one woman. Winner Yaniv Goury lost 52 pounds or 18 percent of his body weight, and winner Cheryl Griffin lost 18 pounds or 11 percent of
her body weight.
Beyond the weight loss and completion
of the program, participants celebrated
their camaraderie—a supportive group
that included Fleet Feet owners and staff, as
well as sponsors like Foundry Fitness. Eric
Pellicci of Foundry Fitness was surprised
with a signed and framed photo of Ton of
Fun Challenge participants, thanking him
for his free classes given each week of the
Challenge, his expertise and support.
“There’s about eight people here who
I see every week and just how they’ve
changed and how they’ve progressed since
the beginning, I have to say it’s been a ton
of fun training you guys and I don’t want
to say good-bye,” Pellicci said. “I love
you guys. It brings back that passion that
I remember when I first started training,
watching you guys succeed and I just love
it.”
Chris and Robyn Gault were presented
with a similar framed and signed photo, for
“helping and setting this whole program
up and introducing us to all the different
exercise options.”
Challenge participants felt this was a
strength of the program—the opportunity
to sample a variety of different classes and
choose those best suited to their needs. Enliven Yoga, Foundry Fitness, CrossFit, Orangetheory Fitness and Lisa Wilcox Jazzercise all offered exercise classes, and Amy
Nastick of Hungry Heartbreak and Whole
Foods Market Kentlands offered healthy
eating advice and support.
Brooks, another Ton of Fun Challenge
sponsor, gave each participant a Ton of
Fun lightweight technical running shirt.
Brooks also donated five gym bags for a
raffle giveaway and provided food for the
March 31 party.
And for more good news, the Ton of Fun
Challenge will party on.
“We are going to do this three times
a year,” Chris Gault announced, “so five
weeks from now we’re going to start up
again” on May 10.
“We already have three repeat offenders,” Robyn Gault said, smiling. “If you
guys want to keep it going, don’t hesitate
to sign up.” New exercise class options are
planned, as well as popular returning classes like Foundry Fitness.
In the intervening five weeks, Robyn
Gault urged participants to join Fleet Feet
for its free fun runs and walks every Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. and Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. The Fleet Feet
No Boundaries 5K training program for
beginning runners just started last week,
and people can still join that as well. The
WalkFit program, training participants to
walk a 5K, also just began and continues to
accept signups.
Mayor Sidney Katz, who took the 12week Ton of Fun journey with his wife,
Sally, and shared his story with Town
Courier readers, plans to do some of the
Fleet Feet walks now that the Challenge is
over. At the conclusion of the program, he
said, “It felt great. I ended up losing 13.5
pounds with them.”
Given his very full schedule, he plans to
“take a semester off ” from the Challenge,
but may sign up again. In the meantime he
will “try my best to do what they taught
me — to let someone else know what I
weigh, to continue exercising and eating
right.
“What I really liked the most (about the
Challenge),” he said, “was I realized how
much excitement was in the store itself
each time you visit, and I enjoyed being a
part of it.”
Lynn Oundo, who also shared her Challenge journey with Town Courier readers,
has already started Fleet Feet’s No Boundn
fitness challenge Continued on page 17
Stafford Studio Teaches Voice,
Drama and Public Speaking
quality, one-on-one experience. Stafford, a graduate of the College Conheryl Stafford has been perform- servatory of Music at the University of
ing since the age of three, when Cincinnati, culls her expertise from an
she first began to dance. Dance impressive performance and direction/
was then followed by piano at six and choreography resume that includes work
acting at nine. Today, Stafat the New York State
ford shares her love of draTheatre, Lincoln Center,
ma and performance with
and the Kennedy Center.
the Gaithersburg commuStafford lives near the
nity through voice, drama
community and is thereand public speaking lessons
fore able to connect with
at the Stafford Studio.
and understand the neighLocated at 216 Main
borhood and Kentlands
St. in Kentlands, the Stafculture. “I really enjoy the
ford Studio provides perKentlands and Lakelands
sonalized lessons in the
communities,” she said.
performing arts to ages 8
The neighborhood’s comthrough adult. Stafford,
bination of young families,
who has been performing
single professionals and sefor 35 years and teaching
niors is a perfect mix for
Photo | Phil Fabrizio
for the last 15, decided to
Stafford’s passion for sharCheryl Stafford offers private
open up her own studio this instruction in voice, drama and
ing her knowledge with
past September.
pupils in every stage of life.
public speaking.
“After contracting myself
“I love teaching all ages and
out to area arts organizations,” said Staf- helping everyone find their own voice!”
ford, “I wanted a studio of my own.”
she said.
For more information, please visit
All lessons are private and taught by
Stafford, so students can be assured of a www.staffordstudiomusic.com.
By Maureen Friedman
C
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014 Page 7
Gaithersburg Book Festival Embraces Young Readers
By Karen O’Keefe
O
n May 17, Gaithersburg will welcome more than 100 authors to the
city’s fifth annual book festival, held
on the grounds of the Gaithersburg City
Hall. This local event has become an important regional literary festival. Authors
of every kind of book will be on hand, including writers of thrillers, romance, history, cooking, science, psychology, sports,
business — the list is still growing.
While each year the festival attracts
readers of all ages, this year, the children’s
lineup of nearly three dozen writers is especially diverse and generous. Whether
readers are preschoolers, preteens or teens,
they’ll discover numerous opportunities to
meet and hear from their favorite authors.
More than 30 writers of books for
younger readers are expected. Here are
four highlights.
Perhaps some adults have never heard
of the seven volumes in Rachel Renee
Russell’s “Dork Diary Series,” but plenty
of elementary and middle school children
have. This resident of Virginia is an admitted former dork, and she bases her popular
books on her own and her two children’s
middle school experiences.
Maybe it’s the history, maybe it’s the romance, maybe it’s the science, but almost
everybody, old and young, is interested in
trains. Writer and illustrator Brian Floca’s
recent book for young readers, “Locomotive,” is a blend of beautiful illustration,
history and technology that tells the story
of a family’s 1869 journey across America
on the newly completed Transcontinental
Railroad. Floca, who has written books
about ships and space shuttles also, said he
wrote “Locomotive” because he “fell in
love with these incredible machines, fell
in love with the crazy-looking people who
operated them and fell in love with the
hood ornaments.” The 2013 New York
Times Best Illustrated Books Award-winner will be on hand at the book festival
to talk about his many loves and the cre-
Photos | Submitted
The fifth annual Gaithersburg Book Festival brings an amazing lineup of authors for younger readers, including (left to right) Rachel Renee Russell, Brian Floca, James L. Swanson and
Tad Hills.
ation of “Locomotive.”
Festival-goers should be on the lookout
for James L. Swanson. This author of many
biographies and histories written for adults,
also writes them for younger readers. In
the fall he published his third book for
youthful history enthusiasts, “The President Has Been Shot: The Assassination
of JFK.” Swanson has great respect for his
young readers. “Kids are very sophisticated,” he said in a televised interview on the
book and his writing process. “You can’t
write down to them — they’ll catch you
like ‘that.’”
Authors who write for the very young
will be represented at the book festival too.
Tad Hills writes books for babies with textured illustrations, as well as picture and
board books for toddlers and early readers. When he comes to Gaithersburg, he
will share about his newest picture book,
“Duck & Goose Go to the Beach,” latest
in a series that includes New York Times
bestsellers “Duck and Goose” and “Duck,
Duck, Goose.”
Participation is a theme in the Children’s
Village, and there are many ways for children — and their adults — to be part of
the fun and learning. In addition to author
presentations, books come alive at the festival’s “Imagination Station” with storytelling, juggling, drama and dance.
assignmenteducation
Compiled by Pam Schipper
State Approves Plan, Waives Four
Snow Days
Montgomery County Public Schools
(MCPS) has made final adjustments to this
year’s school calendar and will make up two
snow days. Under a plan approved by the
Maryland State Department of Education on
Tuesday, April 2, 2014, school will be held on
the following days:
• Monday, April 21, 2014, also known as
Easter Monday
• Friday, June 13, 2014, which will be the
last day of school for students
No other snow days will have to be made
up under the state-approved plan. The 20132014 school calendar, as approved by the
Montgomery County Board of Education,
has 184 days of instruction, which is four
more than required by state law. MCPS has
had 10 snow days this school year and, therefore, is six days under the 180 days of instruction required by state law.
On Tuesday, Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Lillian Lowery granted a
waiver that allows MCPS to go four days below the required days of instruction if school
is held on April 21 and June 13.
‘Marry Me’
At a March 27 tech rehearsal for Quince
Orchard High School’s “Bye Bye Birdie,”
romance was in the air — and not just the
musical variety. Students, Vocal Director
Kelly Puza and Pit Orchestra Pianist Brigitte
Franklin came together to help James Vilgos
propose to Choir Director Robyn Kleiner on
the couple’s second-year dating anniversary.
Puza explained that it all began at a tech
rehearsal four days prior when “James picked
the song ‘Marry Me’ by Jason Derulo. Brin
assignment education Continued on page 16
Other book-oriented amusements include puppet show presentations sponsored
by the Friends of the Quince Orchard Library and performed in their historically
accurate Penny Theater. Look for their
presentation of Eric Carle’s “The Hungry
Caterpillar” and Mary Chapin Carpenter’s
“Halley Came to Jackson.”
Numerous artisans and volunteers will
lead children in craft activities, from
bookmarks to bird collages. In the “Book
Nook,” Home Depot will help kids construct a personal “writer’s tool box.”
Children can try a wide variety of writing styles, including poetry and drama, in
several free workshops. The national nonprofit organization of poets, artists and activists, “Split This Rock,” will sponsor a
“spoken word” workshop that will allow
young people to explore poetry.
Young people drawn to drama can experience playwriting in a workshop sponsored by Young Playwrights’ Theater, an
award-winning, nationally recognized
D.C.-based leader in arts education whose
programs aim to teach young people that
what they think matters and is important.
Other workshops will be announced on
the Gaithersburg Book Festival website
soon.
Children and their families will also
want to be watch for a number of celebrities who plan appearances at the festival,
including Ronald McDonald and the infamous Waldo of “Where’s Waldo” fame.
Festival-goers will have the chance to meet
Oreo, the pony made famous in the book
“The Adventures of Oreo and Algonquin,”
n
book festival Continued on page 16
Page 8
■ wall collapse
from page 1
utes, this reporter could find no further
mention of the retaining wall in KCA
Board meeting notes published online,
in approved KCA Board minutes available
online, or in the KCA’s official Town Crier
newspaper publication.
At this time, the KCA is not responding
to specific questions on the disaster. A general statement released by the KCA on April
1 does not address the question of whether
any monitoring or repair work on the wall
had been undertaken in the roughly 14 weeks
since the board was informed of the findings
of the engineering firm.
A call to Gardner James Engineering had
not been returned at press time.
The Town Courier
After the wall segment collapsed March
30 at approximately 4:30 p.m., Montgomery County Fire and Rescue was first on the
scene, initially with a single fire truck parked
on the east side of Quince Orchard Road at
the site of the collapse, roughly across the
roadway from Pawnee Drive. At the scene,
dozens of rectangular stones from the top of
the wall lay strewn down the hillside, reaching to the sidewalk. The stones were estimated by a city of Gaithersburg official at the
scene to weigh “at least” 200 to 300 pounds
apiece.
By around 5 p.m. other Montgomery
County Fire and Rescue vehicles, the State
Highway Administration, Pepco, Washington Gas, the Gaithersburg Police Department
and city of Gaithersburg officials including
the mayor, the city manager and staff from
Expires 04/30/14
the city’s Public Works, and Planning and
Code Administration departments were
at the scene. Elected representatives of the
Kentlands Citizens Assembly and staff from
the association’s management company were
onsite also.
After leaving the site Sunday night, KCA
President Neil Harris told the Town Courier,
“Work is being done to shore things up in the
short term and work on a plan.”
The two northbound lanes of Quince
Orchard Road were closed indefinitely as a
safety precaution. On April 1, John Schlichting, Gaithersburg’s Planning and Code Administration Department chief, emailed the
Town Courier, “The State Highway Administration (Rt. 124/Quince Orchard Road is
a state road) is requiring the installation of
jersey barriers on the wall side of the road—
and then they will allow one eastbound lane
to reopen. The road will likely not reopen
completely until reconstruction of the wall is
complete which we estimate will take 4 to 6
weeks.”
Two adjacent townhomes on Ridgepoint
Place—one adjacent to the wall—were condemned by the city of Gaithersburg building
inspector, and the residents, including three
adults and two dogs, were required to vacate
the homes.
The residents were moved to hotels at
KCA expense.
Gaithersburg City Manager Tony Tomasello told the Town Courier the residents
may be able to return to their homes after
repair work on the wall is complete. “The
intent is that, when the structural issues are
resolved, the order of condemnation could
be lifted and the houses would be able to be
reoccupied.”
The Town Courier was unable to contact
the residents of the affected homes on Ridgepoint Place for comment.
In an April 1 statement, the KCA said it
had retained “engineering professionals to
work to evaluate the situation and is working
closely with City officials. The evaluation of
the work needed on the retaining wall, the
reopening of the road and the assistance of
those impacted is currently underway as a
combined and cooperative effort of the KCA,
its hired professionals, the City of Gaithersburg, and the State Highway Administration.
The KCA is committed to working with its
professionals and government officials to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
“The KCA has already worked with its
experts and City representatives to assess the
situation and outline a strategy for the work
to proceed. The initial work will begin this
week and will likely continue for several
weeks. As the work proceeds and the timeline is better ascertained, the KCA will keep
its residents updated.”
This is a timeline of events involving the
KCA Board and the Quince Orchard Road
retaining wall gathered by the Town Courier:
May 2013
According to KCA Board meeting minutes, at the May 22, 2013 Kentlands Citizens Assembly meeting, Kentlands General
Manager Randy Fox gave a report on the
retaining wall. The board was informed of
the cause of the wall’s “deterioration, and the
potential costs for repair.
“The Board discussed the process for resolving the issue. The General Manager was
tasked with seeking proposals for the repair
of the retaining wall.”
April 4, 2014
June 2013
From the June 26 meeting minutes, “Retaining Wall Update: The General Manager
gave an update to the Board on the progress
made in reviewing the repair work needed
on this issue. Gardner James Engineering was
retained to conduct a peer review on the current retaining wall report.”
July 2013
According to Meeting Notes from the July
24, 2013 board meeting, published online,
the board received a “Retaining Wall Update: The General Manager gave an update
to the Board on the review process for repairs
to the Quince Orchard Retaining Wall.”
August 2013
In the August 2013, Town Crier, the official publication of the Kentlands Citizens
Assembly, Board Chair Neil Harris reported
to the community, “We are taking a detailed
look at the notorious retaining wall along
Quince Orchard Road again this year.
“The wall was the subject of much discussion and significant maintenance work in the
past. There is some ongoing concern about
the wall’s stability and it may be in need of
additional repair this year.
“This is a very expensive project, but funds
are in the KCA’s reserves if needed. By next
month, we should have an engineering report and we will know more.”
December 2013
In KCA meeting minutes from the Dec.
11, 2013 meeting, “Retaining Wall Findings:
The General Manager reviewed the report
from Gardner James Engineering on the
Quince Orchard retaining wall that called
for more frequent and thorough monitoring
and needed drainage repairs. The Board queried the General Manager on the costs of the
monitoring and any necessary repairs.
“A proposal from Gardner James Engineering for consulting services was presented.
“A motion was made by the Treasurer to
approve the contract with Gardner James Engineering.
“The motion was approved 5-0.”
Details on the work performed to date by
Gardner James Engineering were not available as KCA officials are not commenting
further at this time.
On March 31 Cliff Lee, Gaithersburg
Department of Planning and Code Administration, told the Town Courier, “Because
the wall is owned by the Kentlands Citizens
Assembly, the maintenance responsibility is
theirs. They have implemented some remedial work regarding the stability of the wall
in the past. We do not have the facts regarding that work at this time.”
After the March 31 work session of the
Gaithersburg Mayor and City Council,
Gaithersburg City Manager Tony Tomasello recalled that several years ago, a city employee noticed that the retaining wall was
“bulging” in approximately the area of the
collapse. He said that at the time, the KCA
agreed to “make repairs and have it monitored.” Tomasello recalled that the wall was
monitored at least “for a few years” and that
there was no evidence of problems during
that period.
April 4, 2014 ■ safe havens
from page 1
cording to a report released by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’
Homeless Services Planning and Coordinating Committee. Of these homeless veterans,
31 lived in Montgomery County.
In 2009, the U.S. Department of Veteran’s
Affairs announced an initiative to end veterans’ homelessness by 2015. As a part of that
initiative, the Montgomery Coalition for the
Homeless (MCCH) Safe Havens emergency
housing program received a grant to launch
a Safe Havens program targeted specifically
to aid veterans suffering from mental illness.
The grant is for the year 2014 with possibility
for renewal.
This program will serve a total of 15 veterans. MCCH Executive Director Susie Sinclair-Smith said this population is often overlooked when it comes to housing because of
the requirements many other housing programs have. “We try to reduce the barriers to
entry,” said Sinclair-Smith. “They just need
to be homeless and have a mental illness.”
Sinclair-Smith said that this program is just
one of MCCH’s efforts to end homelessness
in the region. “The best way to end homelessness is to target specific populations and
find out what their needs are,” she said.
Residents admitted into the Safe Havens
program are immediately connected with
psychiatric care and are provided support for
daily living. The program is staffed with a
house manager, case manager and residential aide. The case manager works with the
veterans to engage them in local treatment
centers, and access Veterans Affairs medical
centers in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.,
for vocational, educational, mental health,
medical and other health and human services.
The goal, said Sinclair-Smith, is to transition
residents to a permanent, supportive housing program, such as the one sponsored by
HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing.
The Montgomery County Veterans Safe
Havens program is still in its start-up phases.
■ musical
from page 1
was born on a linoleum kitchen floor. “She’s
a nice little fun character to play,” Hester
said. “Much different from my own life, but
I’m having a good time with her.”
Growing up, Hester’s mother would have
her watch musicals instead of Saturday morning cartoons. The first play she starred in was
“Fiddler on the Roof ” when she was in the
sixth grade.
Hester has enjoyed the rehearsal process
with her cast mates. “It’s really getting together with a group of your friends and
playing around for a few hours every night,
which has been nice,” she said.
Amanda Spellman takes on the role of
troublemaker Pippi. “It’s been fun,” she said.
“It’s a character I’m not used to playing,
which has been great.”
Drawn to ensemble-based pieces, Spellman finds “that my strengths come out when
I am working with other people, when we
can all collaborate and support each other.”
In eighth grade, her mother encouraged
her to try out for her school’s play, “The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” She
ended up being cast as the White Witch.
Spellman earned a degree in musical theater
from James Madison University.
“The minute you hear ‘The Great Amer-
The Town Courier
In March, Safe Havens opened a seven-person unit in Darnestown and is in the process
of looking for more housing units to serve
the remaining eight veterans anticipated for
the program; these additional veterans will
be referred in part by the veterans’ medical
center in Baltimore and D.C.
Currently there are three veterans from the
Vietnam War in the Darnestown location.
Vietnam veterans often have trouble receiving help and are more susceptible to mental
illness, said Sinclair-Smith, mostly because
these veterans carry the negative stigma from
an unpopular war and also because many of
these veterans were dishonorably discharged
because post-traumatic stress disorder was
not properly diagnosed at the time. In order
to receive veterans’ benefits, one had to be a
veteran in good standing, which means that
one must have been honorably discharged.
Of the three Vietnam veterans currently in
the Safe Havenss program, two of them came
from an emergency shelter and one of them
came directly from the streets.
Sinclair-Smith said this program is not
only important for the veterans to become
more independent but also critical for rehabilitating relationships that these veterans
have with their friends and family. “Many of
their family don’t get in touch when they’re
in emergency shelters, but when they come
to a program like ours, they are more likely to reach out. And that might be because
they’ve burned so many bridges,” said Sinclair-Smith.
At the moment, the three veterans seem
to be settling in nicely. One of them has
been sleeping since he arrived, reported Sinclair-Smith, and another has been using the
kitchen to make cobbler and chili. For the
time being, they’ve already made themselves
at home.
If you want to help, you can donate
household items like storage bins and hangers,
movies, games, puzzles, and cleaning supplies
to the Safe Havens program. MCCH requests
that all items be new. For more information,
visit www.mcch.net or contact anesby@
mcch.net.
ican Trailer Park Musical,’ your mind goes
to one thing, but when you watch the show,
there is so much more to the show,” Spellman
said. “It’s not just these people who are from a
trailer park and dealing with their crazy soap
opera-like situations. They are actual people,
and it’s a really great show with amazing music. I think people are going to have a lot of
fun seeing this show.”
This is the fifth show Rosenthal has directed. She previously headed up productions of
“Nunsense!” and “Nunsense A-men!” She
got involved in theater after a friend in middle school persuaded her to take a class. “It
was a singing class,” she recalled. “I had absolutely no idea I could sing. I’m more a performer than a director. It started there. I’ve
been doing this for over 30 years.”
Besides directing, Rosenthal also acts, costumes and serves as vocal coach for other area
productions.
“I enjoy it,” she said. “I think every actor
should be on a production staff, and I think
every production staff member should be in a
show. Just to give an idea of when you are directing someone how it feels to be told what
to do, and then the flip side is having to deal
with the different personalities on stage. It’s a
different perspective.”
For tickets, call the Arts Barn at
301.258.6394 or go to www.gaithersburgmd.
gov/leisure/arts/theater-at-the-arts-barn.
Page 9
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The Town Courier
■ green week
A cup of coffee and a second opinion
When the markets turn as volatile and confusing as they
have over the past few years, even the most educated
and patient investors may come to question the wisdom
of their financial plan and the investment strategy that
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empathize with those who find the current environment
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from page 4
April 4, 2014
April 11, local residents are encouraged to
take steps in their daily lives to use fewer
resources and do more to improve the environment. The city of Gaithersburg offers
green suggestions such as planting a tree,
composting, taking shorter showers and
switching to compact fluorescent or LED
light bulbs. More ideas to help the environment can be found on the city of Gaithersburg website.
sponsored by Gaithersburg’s Environmental Affairs Committee, recognizes individuals, schools, homeowners’ associations,
businesses, scouting groups and non-profit
organizations for their dedication in helping to improve the environment.
Also on April 7, 7:30 p.m., the Mayor
and City Council will
officially
designate
April 5-11 as “Gaithersburg Green Week”
in the city of Gaithersburg.
Area residents can
view a free screening
of the documentary
“No Impact Man” on
Environmental Film
Night on Thursday,
April 10, 7 p.m. at
Kentlands Stadium 10
Theaters, 629 Center Point Way, Kentlands. The movie
follows author Colin
Beavan and his family
through their yearlong “no impact” livPhoto | Submitted
ing experiment.
Don’t miss the free screening of “No Impact Man” on April 10, 7 p.m. at Kentlands
Beavan committed Stadium 10 Theaters. It is a hilarious yet profound documentary of one family’s year-long
to making as little en- experiment with “no impact” living.
vironmental impact
On April 23, students at a local elemenas he could for one year. He decided to give
up electricity, material consumption, auto- tary school will participate in an Arbor
mated transportation and non-local food. Day program that will emphasize the imThe project became challenging when his portance of trees in the community. The
wife, who loves to shop and drink espres- mayor will donate a tree to the school, and
so, and his two-year-old daughter were the Maryland Department of Natural Reasked to participate in the environmental sources will present the city of Gaithersexperiment. The event will be presented burg with its 25th annual Tree City Award
by the Environmental Affairs Committee. during the assembly.
For more information about Green
To register, please contact the Office of
Environmental Services at 301.258.6330. Week, please contact the Office of EnSeating is limited.
vironmental Services at 301.258.6330 or
On Make a Difference Day on Friday, email [email protected].
cityscene
from page 4
Monies raised help support the police department with items that fall outside of
its operating budget, such as K9 training
gear, a new thermal imaging device to find
missing persons or fleeing suspects, and the
Exquisite 10,000 square foot custom built residence in Whiskey Creek Estates
situated on 1.42 acres with swimming pool and hot tub, backing to trees with golf
course view. Expansive living quarters including first floor in-law suite, upper level
owner suite, plus three additional bedrooms with en-suite and walk-in closets. Lower
level features state-of-the-art theatre, fitness room, and extensive entertainment
area with full service wet bar overlooking stunning backyard.
To see virtual tour go to: www.4604distilleryct.com
www.troycegatewood.com
Employee Recognition Awards
Community Services Program Coordinator Lisette Orellano and the Police
Department Scenario Based Training
Team received Employee Recognition
Awards for the fourth quarter of calendar
year 2013. As a new employee, Orellano spearheaded the city’s 2013 Holiday
Giving Program with enthusiasm and
commitment. Her effort created an exceptional public image of the city and
enhanced the quality of life for city residents. Together with 70 volunteers, Orellano served more than 900 families and
1,700 children with food and gift card
donations in November and December.
She also led efforts to partner with Toys
Shop with a Cop event to benefit at-risk
Gaithersburg children. Mamma Lucia is
located at 14921 Shady Grove Road and
the event runs 5 until 10 p.m. Diners don’t
need to bring in a fundraising flyer, just
their appetites!
for Tots and serve a Thanksgiving dinner
for seniors at the Oaks at Olde Towne.
The Gaithersburg Police Department’s
Scenario Based Training Team, comprised of Sergeants Shawn Eastman, John
Leache and Chris Vance, Corporals Brian Hurtt, Matt Bellard, Raul Delgado,
Chad Eastman and Kathy Fairfield, and
Officers Jonathan Bennett, David Bower, Shane Eastman, Noah Grubic, Gregg
Johannesen, Paul Maskey and Dan McCarthy, was named Team of the Fourth
Quarter in recognition of their proactive
efforts to prevent injury, loss of life or
damage to/loss of property by providing
better training for Gaithersburg police
officers.
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014 ■ CODE COMPLIANCE
from page 1
Chairman Neil Harris moderated the discussion, which added two hours to a meeting that had been scheduled to end around
10 p.m.
Speaking to the proposed amendment to
Administrative Resolution 4, Harris explained at the outset of the meeting that
with the exception of one sentence, the
proposed amendment (subtitled “Exhaustion of Remedies” and “Penalties”) was
language already in place elsewhere in
Kentlands governing documents.
“It was basically a process issue we were
seeking to correct,” he said. “The BOCC
came to the Board of Trustees and said we
need a demarcation point once we complete our work and we make our decision—a point where everything has been
adjudicated. Then, if (the titleholder) appeals to the Board of Trustees, you guys
should make a final ruling and something
should happen.”
Harris said later that the board has a
number of options at that (final ruling)
point that include doing nothing, establishing a lien, filing suit for damages, or
filing suit for injunctive relief or a remedy.
He said the proposed change was intended to keep cases of uncorrected violations
from the “limbo” of not being addressed
by the Board of Trustees once the BOCC
process was completed.
Harris said one paragraph in the proposed amendment was new language:
“Notwithstanding the due process procedures set forth in this Resolution, the
Board of Trustees in its sole discretion, may
refer violations to the Community Attorney prior to the exhaustion of the remedies
set forth herein for legal action as it deems
necessary based upon the circumstances of
the violation at issue.”
The amendment would have given the
Board of Trustees the authority to bypass
the hearings and notifications in the normal BOCC process and refer violations at
any point to the community attorney for
legal action.
At the meeting, Harris said that the new
language was suggested by attorney Fisher “in response to a situation that has occurred in other communities where people
started construction on something in clear
violation of the code of that community,
and the community needed to stop it before it went too far—and that was the purpose of that language.”
Harris said also that given the broad
scope of the proposed new language and
the community’s concern over it, that the
new language would probably be dropped
from further consideration.
The Board of Trustees voted unanimously ( Jarrod Borkat was absent) to withdraw the amendment from consideration
in order to review the entire matter.
Harris said in an interview after the
meeting that when the proposed amendment was published in the Kentlands Town
Crier in late February in order to give residents mandatory 30-days’ notice that the
board was considering the amendment,
there should have been explanatory material included to explain how the proposed
amendment came about.
Page 11
Titleholder Ken Quittman thanked the
board members for backing away from
“the draconian” changes that had been
proposed, but he complained that even
unamended, the process did not constitute
“due process.”
During the discussion, several residents
and Marina Khoury, representing Kentlands’ official town architect Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ), complained
about the vagueness of the standards being
enforced. Khoury made several points,
which she later summarized for the Town
Courier: “If you are going to have standards enforced, you need to be clear and
explicit in what those standards are. Currently they are too subjective.” Khoury
added, “At DPZ we are now simplifying
our codes as, in general, codes have gotten
overly complicated.
“What exactly is the problem and is
there even a need for the BOCC?” Khoury
asked. “I work in Kentlands and live in
Lakelands, and I do not see the houses falling into disrepair or unkept.”
Khoury suggested that the Kentlands
Board of Trustees “consider a radical
proposition. Eliminate the BOCC for 6
months. You may be surprised to realize
it may not be needed. And if you find out
that it will be needed, then make sure that
in addition to clear standards, there is not
even the perception of a conflict of interest.”
Titleholder Joe Palka also suggested that
Kentlands titleholders would do an adequate job self-regulating in the area of
property upkeep. “The message is we can
take care of our own homes. We have been
doing it for over 20 years and we will continue to do that.
“I understand what you are trying to do.
I think you are trying to preserve our property values and that is a very good thing.
“I am concerned, though, because it is
turning out to be very counter-productive. I am concerned that people thinking
about moving to Kentlands will hear about
the minutiae of what the management system wants our houses to look like and say,
‘Why do I want to bother with that?’
“You may say that now that our houses
are 20 years old, we have to be more vigilant. Maybe you do but I am wondering if
you have not overextended—because what
we have here in Kentlands is one of the
nicest neighborhoods in the country.
“You and our management company
had nothing to do with it. It is because we
take personal pride. These are $800,000 to
$1 million dollar-homes, and it is an insult
to think you have to come around to check
our moss, to check whether we have dirt
on our steps—in January, by the way.”
Palka said he would support the BOCC
taking enforcement action on major issues.
“If you are talking six- or eight-foot fences
or certain kinds of windows, I would support you on that kind of thing.
“Control what you can control. Trust
us—we are going to fix the rotted wood
on our homes.”
Titleholder Barney Goren addressed the
same issue. “For years we have had an escalating process of notices to homeowners
on what is wrong with your house. Now
n
code compliance Continued on page 19
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4/30/14
4/30/14
Fax: 301.355.4973 • [email protected]
Page 12
The Town Courier
The ParkPages
News and Current Events for Quince Orchard Park
n
April 4, 2014
Meeting Calendar
4/8 ­— Quince Orchard Park Annual Meeting and HOA Board, Clubhouse, 7 p.m.
4/23 — Condo Board II, Clubhouse, 7 p.m.
4/28 — Condo Board I, Clubhouse, 7 p.m.
E-mail your contributions to [email protected]
QOP News
Stingrays Swim Team Welcomes
Coach Teddy Meyers
Quince Orchard
Park Board Elections
Teddy Meyers is the new Stingrays
coach for summer 2014. A Quince Orchard High School graduate, Meyers is
now a student at North Carolina State
University in Raleigh where he is studying engineering.
Our new coach has lots of swimming,
pool management, teaching and coaching
experience, including swimming for the
Quince Orchard High School team for
four years and serving as an assistant coach
at both the Germantown Indoor Swim
Center and at the nearby Quince Orchard
Swim and Tennis Club.
Coach Meyers is excited to have the opportunity to coach the Stingrays this summer and said he “can’t wait” to meet all of
our new and returning swimmers.
The Stingrays’ team goal is to give every
swimmer an opportunity to improve skills
and achieve success at his or her level of
ability — but most of all to have fun while
creating long-lasting friendships.
Watch this space for more information
about our new coach and plans for the
season. Join us at our Stingrays’ “Kickoff
Event” on May 18, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the
QOP Clubhouse.
For information on joining the Stingrays, contact our Quince Orchard Park
team rep, Carole Valis (valiscb@yahoo.
com), and/or check the Stingrays’ website,
www.dfstingrays.com.
We welcome new swimmers, and most
importantly, we have fun!
Elections to fill two board seats currently held by Les Stano and Chuck Crisostomo will take place at the Quince Orchard Park annual meeting on April 8 at
7 p.m. Board terms are three years. Chuck
Crisostomo has announced that he will
not run for reelection. The regular monthly board meeting will follow the annual
meeting on April 8. Contact Community
Manager Quinn Chase for more information ([email protected]).
New Tennis Court Combination
For the new combination, log into the
“Resident” area of the Quince Orchard
Park website (www.quinceorchardpark.
com) and submit a “Tennis Court Combination Request” eForm. Once you have
the new combination, please do not share
it. The management company (The Management Group Associates) has been asked
not to provide the combination over the
phone due to authentication (resident validation) issues.
Green Up Week April 5–11
The city of Gaithersburg invites you to
participate in activities that celebrate and
improve the environment during Gaithersburg Green Week, April 5–11.
This year, make a commitment to
change a few habits to benefit the environment. Small actions can raise environmental awareness and add up to significant sav-
Join the fun
Saturday,
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April 19
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April 2014
MANAGEMENT MENTIONS
Trash and Recycling
Photo | Karen O’Keefe
One more time—an unusual snowfall on March
25 brought sleds, dogs and kids out for fun on
Orchard Ridge Drive.
ings in our consumption of water, energy
and other natural resources.
The city of Gaithersburg posted these
and other suggestions on their website:
Plant native species in your garden.
Native plant species are better adapted to
local conditions, use less water, require
fewer artificial additives, and attract native
wildlife and beneficial native insects.
Add a rainscape to the landscape. The
city of Gaithersburg’s Rainscapes Rewards
program aims to help residential property
owners, including owners of multifamily dwellings, improve stormwater runoff
conditions on their property by installing
natural drainage projects. These projects
reduce the amount of stormwater entering local streams, increase groundwater
supply, reduce chemical and nutrient pollutants entering waterways, provide other
environmental benefits and increase property value.
Gaithersburg’s Environmental Affairs
Committee is a citizen-based committee
that advises the Mayor and City Council
on environmental issues, promotes environmental education and outreach activities, monitors county, state and federal
statutes and regulations for impacts on city
operations, and explores new environmental initiatives.
For information or to get involved, contact Gaithersburg Environmental Services
at 301.258.6330 or [email protected].
Volunteer for QOP Green Up Day
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QOP Child
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The city’s annual Community Green
Up Day is Saturday, April 5. Quince
Orchard Park residents who wish to help
in a community spring-cleaning will meet
in the Community Center parking lot for
activities beginning at 9 a.m. and ending
at noon.
Trash bags, pick-up sticks and gloves
will be provided by the city of Gaithersburg. City workers will collect trash in the
afternoon.
All are welcome. Montgomery County Student Service Learning hours (SSLs)
are available. For information, contact
Steve Scharf ([email protected])
or Suzanne Scharf (suzannescharf@gmail.
com).
See you April 5!
Trash, which is collected on Tuesday and Friday, must be placed in lidded trash cans. Trash
should not be left for collection in bags. They
are ripped open by dogs, birds and other pests,
and trash is strewn throughout the community.
Continued use of bags may result in fines.
Consider painting your house number on
your trash cans and lids so they may be returned on windy days.
It is also helpful to label recycling bins with
house numbers — and to place bagged newspapers and magazines atop commingled materials
in the bin.
Trash cans and recycle bins must be stored
out of sight on non-pickup days.
Recycling is picked up on Fridays. Containers, with lids, are now available from the
city of Gaithersburg. Please contact the city at
301.258.6370 to have a lidded bin delivered
and the old one picked up. The new bins will
lessen the problem with trash in the neighborhood. It is helpful to label recycling bins with
house numbers. Lids may be attached to bins by
drilling small holes and attaching with twine.
Bulk recycling pickups are the first Friday of
each month. April 4 is the next bulk recycling
pickup day. In May, bulk recycling is picked
up May 2.
The city of Gaithersburg and Potomac Disposal (301.294.9700) both offer collection services for bulk items at no cost.
Dog Duty and Animal
Services Information
Cleaning up after dogs is the legal responsibility of every canine owner walking a dog
in the community. Dogs are not permitted
off-leash on common property in the city of
Gaithersburg.
Contact Information for Gaithersburg
Animal Control
To report after hours/emergency animal
service calls, city of Gaithersburg residents
must now contact the Montgomery County
Emergency Communication Center (MCECC) at 301.279.8000. MCECC will then
notify and dispatch a Gaithersburg Animal
Control officer for response.
To report non-emergency animal service
calls and for information on related animal
matters during regular business hours, residents may contact the Gaithersburg Animal
Control Office directly at 301.258.6343. Regular hours of operation are Monday through
Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information,
please visit www.gaithersburgmd.gov/animal.
QOP Management
Contact Information
Quince Orchard Park Community Managers, Ruchita Patel and Quinn Chase
C/o The Management Group Associates, Inc.
20440 Century Boulevard, Suite 100
Germantown, MD 20874
Phone: 301.948.6666
Fax: 301.963.3856
E-mail: [email protected]
[email protected]
April 4, 2014 ■ police awards
from page 5
Explaining why Dakkouni received the
honor, Sroka said he consistently goes well
beyond what is minimally expected and
shows extraordinary energy and resourcefulness in his overall exemplary performance.
When asked why he is so proactive, Dakkouni points to the job description for a
police officer, saying people want to see officers looking for criminals, drunk drivers
and helping those in need. “I’d rather be
■ GPD ANNUAL REPORT
from page 5
went down from 1,282 to 1,192 — a 7
percent decline. Slight decreases were also
seen in aggravated assaults, 97 to 94, and
burglaries, 198 to 192.
Department spokesman Officer Dan
Lane said officers have been building relationships with the community. Residents
are able to speak to officers directly about
issues that are concerning to them, he said.
The department also created the Community Action Team last summer to address specific issues facing the city. If a
rash of burglaries occurs, the team will be
placed in areas around where the incidents
are occurring in an effort to stop the crime
trend.
Rapes did increase from 9 in 2012 to 12
reported last year. Auto thefts were also up
The Town Courier
out there making the most of my day,” he
said. “That’s what we get paid for and that’s
what I’m going to give my full 10 hours
of patrolling (toward) and doing my best.”
In September, Dakkouni made a traffic
stop for a headlight violation that led to
the seizure of marijuana, money and the
vehicle. He later obtained a search and seizure warrant that netted more marijuana,
Xanax pills and other prescription medication. The investigation is continuing and
additional out-of-state-suspects have been
developed.
Dakkouni also participates in additional
from 64 to 73.
“A lot of this stuff we have already been
focusing on,” Lane said. “We are aware
of the situation. We are aware of the concerns. (The report allows us to) fine-tune
what we may have missed or what we may
have not missed. ... A lot of these things
we have already addressed at some point
throughout the year.”
Besides crime statistics, the report features information on the department’s
training exercises, community outreach
efforts, internal affairs reports and awards
presented to officers. The 21-page document takes several months to compile by
going through monthly internal reports.
“The annual report is done every year to
be transparent,” Lane said, “to give information to the public so they know what is
going on with the agency and what we are
addressing.”
Page 13
events that include the Polar Bear Plunge
at Sandy Point State Park to raise funds for
Special Olympics. “We spend a day in the
cold, and it’s nothing compared to what
they go through in everyday life,” he said.
“It was a small gesture of us giving back
to the community and giving back to the
people.”
At the annual Chief ’s Pistol Competition, Dakkouni placed third. “You always
want to prove yourself as being the best,”
he said. “I was actually surprised that I
placed top three. In this department, there
are a lot of great shooters and everybody
takes their training very seriously.”
Dakkouni also volunteers his time to do
holiday initiatives and the alcohol holiday
task force. “The worst thing you can see as
a police officer is a family getting into an
accident with a drunk driver,” he said. He
does the initiatives as “a small token of my
appreciation to the city.”
Last year, Dakkouni was nominated for
Officer of the Month 11 times out of 12
and won the honor in July. When he was
told he won Officer of the Year, he was
happy and overwhelmed.
“It’s a huge honor to get Officer of the
Year and have the chief recognize you,” he
said. “I think it’s one of, if not the, biggest
honor an officer can dream of.”
Hurtt, who declined to be interviewed,
supervised the Investigation Section,
which saw an increase in cases from 2012
to 2013. He managed complicated cases
and coordinated efforts that led to multiple
arrests, search warrants, convictions and
case closures.
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Page 14
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014
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Spring SpecialS!
Photo | Phil Fabrizio
Conrad Birdie (Slava Yun), Sweet Apple adults, boys and teens sing “Honestly Sincere” in the Quince Orchard High School
production of “Bye Bye Birdie.”
Good Second Half
By Mike Cuthbert
T
he arts and athletics have a great deal
in common. It takes a lot of time and
effort to mount a successful team and
for leaders to emerge. Games and performances develop rhythms of their own, and
a strong effort can save a game/play that
gets off to a rocky start. So it was with the
QO production of “Bye Bye Birdie.” The
show ran the weekend of March 28-30 and
finishes its run on April 4-6.
On March 28, opening night nerves
and inexperience cost the play at least a
half hour in slow scene changes and a slow
pace, especially problematic for a musical.
That is an issue that can be fixed. Another, more serious problem, emerged early
when the sound crew found themselves out
of sync with the performers to the extent
that many laughs were lost and timing was
thrown by micing that was out of balance
and distorted the voices connected to the
system.
High school theater is as much about
learning the details of professional production as it is about just “doing the show.”
Audio mixing is a fine art, and as the production matures, this will be an aspect that
all will have to focus upon. Just because it’s
loud doesn’t mean that it’s clear, and the
ultimate goal of any audio assistance is to
make the lines easier to understand, not
painful.
The worst-served member of the cast was
Chloe Malouf as Mae Peterson, Albert Peterson’s mother. Every entrance of hers in
the first act was so distorted by over-modulation that she lost scores of laughs. Speaking of Mrs. Peterson, we know she’s from
New York, but why a Yiddish grandma
accent? Malouf has a good voice and does
physical comedy well. There was no reason
to attempt to gild the lily with the accent.
Speaking of accents, the attempt by
Grant Hayes as Mr. McAfee to channel the
late Paul Lynde was unfortunate. In the
process of trying the imitation, and with
the help of the aggressive amplification,
Hayes distorted lines so much that they
became over-wrought and indecipherable.
This was most unfortunate in the delightful “Kids” number, a hypercritical attack
on the younger generation in the midst of
a misplaced nostalgia for being a kid. The
over-the-top sound, accent and tempo
buried much of the text.
As usual with QO musicals, several excellent young voices were showcased, most
notably those of Sanjan Taskar as Rose Alvarez and Scotty Fletcher as Albert Peterson. Albert and the men in the bar during
“Talk to Me” were effective and believable. Slava Yun, fascination with his processed hair notwithstanding, took a droll
and properly emotionally removed stance
toward his role as the teen idol, Conrad
Birdie. One could feel his desire to get to
boot camp, even given the yummy temptation of Sarah MacPhee as Gloria Rasputin
whose journey into the splits in tight pants
was a tense and funny gymnastic exercise.
Alex Chase’s Hugo showed a good balance
of frustration and anger at being compared
with Conrad Birdie.
The best thing that happened opening
night was that many of the problems were
cured after intermission. Sound balances
improved, balance between the orchestra
and singers improved, the orchestra’s performance of admittedly tricky rhythms
and scored dissonance improved, and the
whole production seemed to be on a firmer
footing. By the curtain, it was clear that
this production would fit into the proud
tradition of musicals at Quince Orchard.
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014 Page 15
arts& entertainment Kentlands Acoustic Jam
Day on May 3. Kentlands25.com
April 1 and April 22, 6-9 p.m.
Kentlands Clubhouse
Kentlands Acoustic Jam meets on the
first and fourth Tuesday of every month.
Jam sessions are open to the public. Bring
your acoustic instrument, a dish, dessert or
drink to share. Free. www.reverbnation.
com/kentlandsacousticjam
Sugarloaf Craft Festival
Color Abstractions
Through May 11, 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday
through Saturday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday,
Activity Center at Bohrer Park, Gaithersburg
The city of Gaithersburg presents “Color
Abstractions,” featuring the unique photography of the North Bethesda Camera
Club. The images in this exhibit do not
represent the photographed subject in a literal way. They are abstract in nature, leaving much to the imagination of the viewer. The main focus and dominant features
are color, shape, form, pattern, texture,
lines or curves. Free. www.nbccmd.org or
www.gaithersburgmd.gov
Annual Shades of Spring ALOG Art
Exhibit and Sale
April 2, 3-8 p.m. (opening reception, 5:307:30 p.m.)
April 3, 3-8 p.m. (jewelry demonstrations)
April 4, 12-6 p.m. (special Art and Dining
door prize)
April 5, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. (portrait
demonstrations)
April 6, 1-4 p.m. (artists’ reception, 1-3 p.m.)
BlackRock Center for the Arts, Main Gallery
More than 50 fine artists from the Art
League of Germantown (ALOG) exhibit
paintings, drawings, photography, ceramic and fiber arts, as well as jewelry. www.
blackrockcenter.org
‘The Great American Trailer
Park Musical’
April 4-20; Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.,
Sundays at 2 p.m., the Arts Barn
In partnership with Rockville Musical
Theatre Company, the Arts Barn presents
“The Great American Trailer Park Musical,” a Broadway musical comedy that is
jam-packed with big hair and raucous fun
all set in the Armadillo Acres Trailer Park
in Starke, Fla. This show contains mature
themes and is appropriate for those 17 and
older. Tickets are $18, or $16 for city of
Gaithersburg residents. www.gaithersburgmd.gov/leisure/arts/theater-at-thearts-barn
K25 Photography Scavenger Hunt
April 5-30, throughout Kentlands
Want to learn about Kentlands history,
singularities and more? Do you like photography? Then the K25 Photography
Scavenger Hunt is for you! Twenty-five
clues over 25 days: All clues will be released
on April 5. Participants must decipher the
clues and take a picture of each item. You
may complete the hunt in one day, or over
the next 25 days, but the final deadline for
submitting photos is April 30. There will
be prizes for the first team or person to
successfully complete the hunt and for best
photos, so take your time taking the shots.
Winners will be announced at Kentlands
April 4-6, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and
Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday,
Montgomery County Fairgrounds
More than 250 top artisans return to the
Montgomery County Fairgrounds to share
their unique creations — pottery, sculpture,
glass, jewelry, fashion, home décor, fine
art and more. You’ll also enjoy artist
demonstrations and live entertainment
from Stan and LeeAnne, Chris Wilson and
Middle Earth. Tickets are $10 for adults;
children 12 and under are admitted free.
www.sugarloafcrafts.com
Box City, Kentlands 25 event
April 5, Box City Construction Workshop,
Kentlands Clubhouse, 9:30-11 a.m.,
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. or 1:30-3 p.m.
Experience town planning firsthand by
building a “Box City” with family, friends
and neighbors. Participants learn about the
principles of town planning used in the
development of Kentlands and have the
opportunity to design and contribute two
or more buildings to the Box City. Tickets
are $5 for individuals and $10 for families.
kentlands25.com/portfolio/box-city-2
Tiempo Libre
April 5, 8 p.m., BlackRock Center for the Arts
The Miami-based septet is celebrated
for its sophisticated performances of timba
music, an irresistible, dance-inducing mix
of Latin jazz and Cuban song. Tickets are
$30. www.blackrockcenter.org
vironmental Services at 301.258.6330 to
register.
Peter Mayer
April 10, 7:30 p.m., BlackRock Center for
the Arts
Folk singer/songwriter Peter Mayer
writes songs for a small planet — songs
about interconnectedness and the human
journey, about the beauty and the mystery
of the world. Tickets are $25. www.blackrockcenter.org
Indoor Baby Bazaar
April 12, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Montgomery County
Agricultural Center
Find great deals on everything your little
one might need. The Indoor Baby Bazaar
is held in Building 6. Admission is free.
www.gaithersburgmd.gov
Things That Roll
April 12, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Gaithersburg
Skate Park
Youngsters will be allowed to play
on the ramps with scooters, bikes, Big
Wheels, and just about anything else that
can roll. Admission is just $3 per resident
child and $5 for nonresidents, payable at
the door. Parents are welcome to watch for
free. www.gaithersburgmd.gov
‘TreeHouse Shakers — Hatched’
April 12, 10 a.m., BlackRock Center for
the Arts
BlackRock’s first-ever show for very
Compiled by Pam Schipper
young children is performed through
movement, music, handcrafted puppets,
and very little human dialogue. Set on a
family farm, the play follows a newborn
chick as she emerges from her shell at sunrise to a strange and busy world. Audience
members interact and play with the characters on stage. Tickets are $14. www.blackrockcenter.org
Bike Rodeo
April 12, 12-2 p.m., Bohrer Park at Summit
Hall Farm
The Bike Rodeo features activities promoting safety, skills and maintenance,
including bike and helmet fittings, bike
registrations conducted by Gaithersburg
police officers, and an obstacle course taking place on the 1.2-mile trail winding
through Bohrer Park. Area bicycle and
sporting shops, clubs and advocacy groups
will be on hand with information, activities, products and giveaways and there will
be a chance to win raffle prizes. Free. For
more information about the Bike Rodeo,
please call 301.258.6350, e-mail lsharp@
gaithersburgmd.gov.
Author Event with Brian Jay Jones
April 16, 7 p.m., Gaithersburg Public Library
The Gaithersburg Book Festival
hosts Brian Jay Jones, author of the
national bestseller “Jim Henson: The
Biography.” After the talk, Jones will
sign books sold by Politics & Prose. Free.
gaithersburgbookfestival.org
Tuesday Topics
April 8, 7-8:30 p.m., Gaithersburg
Community Museum
Master Gardener Heather Zindash will be
speaking on “Growing Vegetables Where
You Are.” At one time, Gaithersburg
was a robust agricultural community, but
many of us are now limited to decks or
small spaces for gardening. Zindash will
speak on how you can grow vegetables
anywhere. Admission is $5 per person.
For reservations, e-mail museum@
gaithersburgmd.gov or call 301.258.6160
and leave a message. Payment may be made
at the event. www.gaithersburgmd.gov.
‘No Impact Man’
Environmental Film Night
April 10, 7 p.m., Kentlands Stadium
10 Theaters
Don’t miss this free screening of the documentary “No Impact Man.” Author Colin Beavan, in research for his next book,
began the “No Impact” experiment in
November 2006, vowing to make as little
environmental impact as possible for one
year. No more automated transportation,
no more electricity, no more non-local
food, and no more material consumption.
It’s no problem, until his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife and their
two year-old daughter are dragged into the
environmental experiment, which quickly becomes an experiment in how much
one woman is willing to sacrifice for her
husband’s dreams. Admission is free, but
seating is limited and registration is encouraged. Please contact Gaithersburg En-
Chiropractic, Acupuncture and Massage
We participate with most insurance plans. See our website for details.
www.swistakchiro.com
Our treatments include gental manipulation, myofascial release, electrical stimulation,
cold laser, and exercise. All treatments are catered to each patient’s individual needs in
addition to their tolerance levels. If you are in pain and you are looking for a friendly
place to help you get better, give us a call.
Page 16
The Town Courier
■ book festival
from page 7
along with author Leah Taylor Jefferson.
Baseball fans should plan to meet
“Keyote,” mascot of the Frederick Keys
Baseball Team.
When it is time for a sit-down, children and their families will want to visit
the “StoryTime Tent” to hear stories read
by authors, school librarians and students.
Francisca Moreno, Miss White Oak Out-
April 4, 2014
standing Teen 2014, will entertain with
stories and songs in Spanish.
The Gaithersburg Book Festival will
be held May 17, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the
grounds of Gaithersburg City Hall, 31
S. Summit Ave. Admission, parking and
handicap-accessible bus transportation
are free. The Gaithersburg Book Festival
is funded by sponsors and supported
by the city of Gaithersburg. For more
information, including the schedule of
author presentations and activities, visit
www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org.
assignmenteducation
from page 7
gitte found the sheet music, recorded a piano
accompaniment track for us to practice with,
and recruited a few members of the pit to play
along with her. I quickly arranged a few harmonies and held secret lunch rehearsals with
the ‘Birdie’ cast and crew members in the
school’s TV studio the few days leading up to
the proposal day.”
On the day of the proposal, which was
the last tech rehearsal for “Bye Bye Birdie,” Puza made an excuse to bring Kleiner
out of the pit and up on stage. “While she
walked up, I had the kids clump up center
stage with James hidden behind them,” Puza
said. “When she appeared onstage, we all
sang/played for her while parents/students/
rehearsal staff whipped out their phones and
cameras to record the moment. The instruments continued underneath while James got
down on one knee and spoke his proposal,
and when Robyn said yes, the stage erupted
in cheers and applause.
“I’m really proud of the students both for
pulling this together in such a short period of time and for keeping this a secret for
four days in spite of their excitement — even
though Robyn conducts the pit for our musicals, many of our students have her for choir
classes during the day at QO. Brigitte and
I had a lot of fun putting this together, and
we’re so glad that we could help James give
Robyn her dream proposal.”
Make-A-Wish Foundation 5K Walk
Walk to benefit a great cause, the nonprofit
that grants wishes to children with lifethreatening illnesses! On Saturday, April
12, 9:30 a.m., Quince Orchard High School
supports the Make-A-Wish Foundation by
participating in a 5K walk. Please register
and return forms by Friday, April 11. For
details, visit www.montgomeryschoolsmd.
org/schools/qohs.
Discipline Regulations
and Suspensions
On March 24, the Montgomery County
Board of Education received an update and
held a wide-ranging discussion on the changes to state regulations governing student discipline and MCPS’ work to reduce the total
number and racial disparity of suspensions.
Since 2012, the Maryland State Department
of Education (MSDE) has been working to
overhaul the state discipline regulations, concerned about the number of suspensions for
nonviolent behaviors and the fact that African American and Hispanic students are sus-
pended far more often than other students.
As MSDE worked with stakeholders on the
proposed discipline regulations, MCPS set up
a project team to monitor the development
of the regulations, as well as develop the regulatory and professional development implications. The new regulations require that by
the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year,
each local Board of Education must review
and revise its student discipline policies and
regulations with the goal of maintaining an
environment of order, safety and discipline
necessary for effective learning. The Board
also discussed the work of MCPS to reduce
suspensions and where there has been success
and where more work is left to be done.
MCPS Announces New Partnerships
On March 24 at Wheaton High School,
Montgomery County Public Schools
(MCPS) MCPS announced a new partnership with Code.org, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding student
participation in computer science and a new
collaboration with the Hispanic Heritage
Foundation (HHF) through their LOFT
(Leaders on Fast Track) program to introduce minority youth to computer coding as a
bridge to career paths in technology fields to
fill the skills gap in America.
The Code.org partnership will begin with
10 MCPS high schools in the 2014-2015
school year and will provide increased access
to computer science courses, curriculum and
resources.
“Driving this effort is the belief that all
young people throughout our communities
deserve access to technology-based programs
and trainings,” said Antonio Tijerino, president and CEO of HHF. “As a Montgomery
County resident, I’m thrilled to partner with
MCPS, Nancy Navarro and Code.org to inspire and equip minority youth to be worldclass innovators — there is no greater way
to make an impact on society going forward
than through technology.”
Cougar Football and Speed Camp
Did you know that the only full-day football camp in Montgomery County is held at
Quince Orchard High School? High school
football coaches John Kelley, T.J. Changuris
and Aaron Moxley teach this summer camp
for boys 7 to 14 years of age. Two sessions,
July 7-11 and July 14-18, are offered. Each
covers basic football skills, speed and agility
training and the mental aspects of the game.
For more information, visit qofootball.com.
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014 Page 17
O’KEEFE’S JOURNAL
Wedding Planner
T
he wedding of my
firstborn child, Jacqueline, is approaching, and I have no idea
what I am doing. Fortunately, this turns out to
be fine, since Jackie is the
one getting married. Also,
she is an organized, capable and determined womBy Karen
an who knows what she
O’Keefe
wants from her wedding.
Her fiancée is equally
knowing.
Together, they have plotted this journey.
The blessing is that they have been nice
enough to invite me along.
Thank goodness I am not the main planner, because although I have been married
twice, I have never planned a wedding. In
my first wedding, my fiancée did most of the
planning — I was useless for a number of reasons I won’t go into here.
Many years later, when I married my present husband, we did it at our home and it was
small and informal. I tried to plan it well in
advance, like a 50-year-old mature adult, yet
in the end, I couldn’t do it.
Remember what Robert De Niro said
about writers at the Academy Awards?
“The mind of a writer can be a truly terrifying thing. Isolated, neurotic, caffeine-addled, crippled by procrastination, consumed
by feelings of panic, self-loathing, and
soul-crushing inadequacy.
“And that’s on a good day.”
Well, Mr. De Niro captured me in those
words, and the bad news is I am using that
very same “mind” when I have my MOB cap
on. (Yes, I am now a wedding industry acro-
nym. MOB is “mother of the bride.”)
Today, I am so grateful to my daughter.
She has included me in so many mother-ofthe bride type things. I helped her select a
wedding dress. I helped her find the place for
the wedding and reception. I made a cameo appearance at the first gathering of her
bridesmaids at a lunch spot in Rockville. I
went to a “Bridal Expo” with her.
All of these things have been new, and most
were fun, but I have to say the only thing I
liked about the expo was spending time with
my daughter and our two friends who joined
us there. The friends were Jackie’s girlfriend,
who is also planning a wedding, and her
mother. It was kind of like expo squared.
The Bridal Expo thing was a real revelation. They don’t call it “the wedding industry” for nothing.
Located in a characterless suburban Baltimore shopping center, the expo building
was clearly designed for cattle calls and large,
impersonal meetings. There was a pervasive
“take-a-number” atmosphere, as stern expo
employees lined the brides and their entourages of attendants and moms up a flight of
stairs, around a second floor gallery and down
another stairway — just to file each bride,
20 minutes later, past the one person in the
place with computer knowledge who slowly “inputted” each bride’s vital information
— date of wedding, number of people, email
addresses, etc. — into a database. Once that
was done, the bride — and only the bride
— was given a plastic goody bag of wedding
brochures, magnets, pens and assorted other
useless paraphernalia.
Only after the expo machine had devoured
all of my daughter’s wedding facts were we
allowed into the area where the vendors of
■ fitness challenge
When asked what she liked best about the
Ton of Fun Challenge program, she cited
the sense of community, “making friends
and getting to know different people — at
Foundry Fitness and at Fleet Feet.”
Oundo appreciated the “constant encouragement” that made a “huge difference.”
“I’m not in this alone,” she said.
from page 6
aries 5K program. She recently joined
Foundry Fitness and is even taking some
personal training classes there, and she
plans to sign up for the Ton of Fun Challenge in the spring, too.
shoptalk
from page 6
Opus Yoga Offers Donation
Over Spring Break
Between April 12 and 17, Opus Yoga
is hosting a series of Pay-What-You-Can
Donation classes. All proceeds will benefit
the Gaithersburg Book Festival. These
donation classes are not new at Opus Yoga.
“The studio closes for spring break, or
winter break, or Thanksgiving, etc., and
whoever is available to teach classes for free,
we donate the funds. We have donated
a few times to Manna Food Center. We
donated to my niece’s Peace Corps project
in Zambia, and to my brother-in-law’s
nonprofit tennis instruction school in
Brooklyn, N.Y.,” said Opus Yoga owner
Sharon Neubauer. The schedule of classes
available for spring break is available at
www.opusyogakentlands.com.
Calico Critters Coming to
Tipo’s Toy Box in April
If you have young kids, you’re probably
too familiar with the Calico Critter families
— the oinks pig family, the sea otter family, and the tuxedo cat family. Your kids have
probably dressed them up and fed them every
day. It’s a scene that Lewis Tipograph of Tipo’s Toy Box knows all too well. “We have
a Calico Critters play station, and kids are
always coming in, dressing them up and putting them to bed,” Tipograph said. On Saturday, April 26, noon to 4 p.m., Tipograph
is holding a Calico Critters event. Kids will
get to take photos with their favorite Calico
Critters, participate in a raffle and play games.
everything wedding were waiting with the
sales pitches. People wore stickers that said,
“I’m the bride” or “I’m with the bride,” and
although I haughtily disdained this, I was
secretly disappointed that they had run out
when it was my turn in yet another line to
pick up a sticker.
Of course, although I was sticker-free, nobody would have mistaken me for a bride.
The brides who attended the expo were all
young, young, young.
I just kept thinking, “All of these people
are getting married in the coming year?”
It was overwhelming. I realized the same
wedding preparation scenes were happening
in dress shops, venues and other expos on that
same day — and most other days — in every
town in the country. All these people taking
numbers at expos and making appointments
at David’s Bridal Salon and touring venues
and planning to get married in the next few
months. Wow.
With all of these people getting married,
how is it that we still have single people
around?
We found Jackie’s dress in a shop that was
not part of a chain, in part because it was such
a relief to be somewhere where the fact that
you were being “herded” was less obvious.
On the other hand, I definitely am aware
that I do not have what it takes to plan a wedding. Even we hippie types, I think, feel a
serious sense of relief when we know we are
out of our depth and in the hands of someone who pulls off this wedding business on a
regular basis.
Through all of this, the Internet has not
been my friend. At first, I felt excited when
I came across some item of MOB etiquette. I
was excited to learn online that it is my job
to announce the couple’s engagement in the
paper.
Aha! Something to do with newspaper. At
last, a task I can get my hands around.
Being a good delegator, I immediately
pushed my only task down to Jackie who
needs more things to worry about. “Get me
a photo!”
The more I read online, of course the more
I found to read. I have to be careful not to
sit down with a few minutes on my hands
and search on “mother-of-the-bride dresses.”
I may not emerge until the next day. It has
happened more than once.
Today, just for a laugh, I checked on
“mother-of-the-groom dresses,” just to make
sure the opposing team isn’t getting something I might want. I clicked on a site and an
e-Bay page filled with blue dresses opened.
All blue dresses for mothers of the groom?
What if I want to wear a blue dress?
It doesn’t matter; the next click brings an
entirely different set of options.
By the way, that “opposing team” reference is just my insecurities rising to the surface. Ignore.
The wedding is in September, and I think
I will be writing about it again. Perhaps I
should start a wedding advice column. Watch
this space.
Page 18
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014
KAUFMAN’sKITCHEN
Passover Food Done Right
H
ere I share my
favorites
from
best-selling author
Tina Wasserman’s latest
book, “Entrée to Judaism: A Culinary Exploration of the Jewish Diaspora,” and the newly
released “Entrée to JudaBy Sheilah
ism for Families: CookKaufman
ing and Kitchen Conversations with Children.”
Wasserman hosts www.cookingandmore.
com and is the food editor for www.
ReformJudaism.org.
Persian Cauliflower and Raisin Kuku
20 ounce bag frozen cauliflower (1/2
head of large cauliflower)
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil,
divided
2 medium onions, cut in half and
thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 small cloves of garlic, finely
chopped or put through garlic press
5 large eggs
Freshly ground black pepper, about
15 turns of a pepper mill
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cumin
3 tablespoons dark raisins
If cauliflower is fresh then chop into
small pieces, if frozen, then defrost and
drain in a colander.
Heat a large frying pan on high for 15
seconds. Add 3 tablespoons oil and heat for
10 seconds more. Lower heat to medium. Add cauliflower, onions and salt to pan, stir
to combine, cover pan, and then cook for
3 minutes.
Uncover pan and sauté until cauliflower
is soft and onions are light golden brown. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Do
not burn garlic.
Transfer cauliflower/onion mixture to a
large mixing bowl and mash with a potato
masher until cauliflower becomes a coarse
puree. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 11x7
baking dish or 10-inch Pyrex pie plate
with the additional 2 tablespoons of oil.
Using a fork combine the eggs, pepper,
turmeric, cumin and raisins in a 1 quart
bowl. Add to the cauliflower and mix to
thoroughly combine.
Pour egg mixture into oiled dish and
bake on the center shelf of the oven for 30
minutes or until top is golden and eggs are
cooked in the center. Serve immediately
or at room temperature. Serves 4-6.
Note: Cut the cooled kuku into 1 inch squares
and place on a plate with toothpicks for bite sized
snacks or appetizers.
Cabbage Kugel
The authors of Yeshiva Me’on Ha Torah’s “A Taste of Pesach” mailings have put
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together a complete 150 recipe collection
of kosher for Pesach family favorites in a
magnificently presented, down-to-earth
compilation of mouth-watering recipes,
with stunning full-color photos. This book
is designed to put ease and confidence back
into Passover cooking.
2 tablespoons oil
3 onions, diced
2 (1 lb) bags shredded green cabbage
1/ 2 teaspoon pepper
1/ 4 cup sugar, or to taste
6 large eggs, separated
1/ 3 cup potato starch
Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat one or
two 9-x13-inch round pans with nonstick
cooking spray. In a large skillet, heat oil
and sauté onions until light brown. Add
cabbage, cover the skillet, and cook,
stirring occasionally, until cabbage is
wilted. Add salt, pepper and sugar and stir
to combine. Remove from heat, add yolks,
n
kaufman’s kitchen Continued on page 20
Double Coconut Chocolate Macaroons
Wasserman loves to make these all year long.
8 ounces almonds
1 cup sugar
2 cups lightly packed coconut
9 ounces dark chocolate, 60% cocoa
butter, or 10 ounces chocolate chips
3 egg whites (approximately 1/3 cup
whites)
1/3 cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 teaspoon almond extract
Place almonds in a processor work bowl and
pulse the machine on and off until the nuts
are finely chopped. Add the sugar and coconut
and pulse once or twice to combine.
Photo | Submitted
Melt the chocolate in the microwave: 1
Try
whipping
up
double
coconut
chocolate
macaminute at 80 percent and 45 seconds at 50
roons, a trendy sweet treat.
percent. This time is approximate and based
on a 1 1/2 inch thick block of chocolate. It
might take less time. Watch carefully and stir the chocolate after the first 45 seconds
to check on the melting time.
In a small glass measuring cup combine the egg whites, coconut milk and the extract. Set aside. Add the chocolate to the nut mixture in the processor work bowl.
With the motor running, pour the egg white mixture into the work bowl and just
process until the mixture comes together and is well combined.
Preheat oven to 350F. Wet your hands or lightly coat them with oil. Dough is
very sticky. Freeze for 5 minutes if it is too hard to handle. Scoop up one tablespoon
of dough and shape into a ball the size of a small walnut. Place on a parchment-lined
cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Bake the macaroons for 12-15
minutes (Convection ovens only need about 12 minutes at 350F.) Cool completely
and then store in air tight container or freeze. Do not over bake as cookie will harden more when the chocolate solidifies at room temperature.
Yield: 5 dozen macaroons
Note: Most coconut milk is just coconut and water and comes from Thailand. There is no
hechsher on the can but it may be treated as an unprocessed canned fruit for Passover. If that
does not conform to your rules, combine 1 cup of coconut and 1/2 cup water in a blender (NOT
processor) and blend until coconut is fairly pulverized. Strain mixture pressing hard on the coconut solids to extract as much flavor as possible. Discard the solids and use liquid in the recipe.
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The Town Courier
April 4, 2014 Page 19
reader’schoice
“A Permanent Member of the Family”
Written by Russell Banks
Y
ou might know
Russell
Banks
from his books that
were made into movies—“Affliction” (1989)
and “The Sweet Hereafter” (1991)—or you
might be familiar with
his award-winning novBy Betty
el “Continental Drift”
Hafner
(1985). I’d like to introduce you to the new
Banks I’ve just discovered, the short story
writer. “A Permanent Member of the Family,” the title story of his 2013 collection,
reminds me how satisfying a small piece of
writing can be in the hands of a pro like
Banks.
This second entry packs a wallop in just
15 pages. The unnamed narrator is a literature professor at a small New Hampshire
college who reminisces about the year he
separated from his wife and daughters and
moved to an abandoned house a half-mile
away. It was the early ‘70s and the couple
chose to practice joint custody, “a Solomonic solution to the rending of family
fabric.”
The ex-couple elaborately planned for
weekday, weekend and vacation supervision of the girls but tried to keep it simple
with the two pets. He would get Scoot-
■ code compliance
from page 11
we are getting notices about things that are
not covered and that are the hallucinations
of the (inspector).
“This is not neighbors working with
neighbors. This is out of control, and it is
time to turn it around.
“Sending notices, calling lawyers and
spending money is not necessarily a positive approach.”
Neil Harris said that Kentlands hires
an outside inspection firm to inspect all
of the properties every two years and that
the next inspection is a year away. He said
that there was time to fine-tune the list
of things inspectors would check. He said
that this fine-tuning is an ongoing process
and that the inspectors today inspect fewer
items than they did several years ago when
they first began working in the community
and had less guidance.
Titleholder Laurie Dohanich recounted
the problems she experienced because the
KCA would not take action to fix a defective alley invert that was causing flooding
The stories are not consistently strong, but
so many are beauties that I can recommend
this collection with confidence.
er, a big Maine coon cat he had fed each
morning when it returned from a night of
prowling “looking like a boxer who needed a good cut man.” His wife and girls
would keep little Sarge, their elderly, arthritic part-poodle, surprisingly a female
with that name.
So Sarge followed the girls to their dad’s
house every visit, and days later when they
went back home the dog would not leave
with them. “Her preference was clear, although her reasons were not.” She refused
to be leashed “and went limp like an antiwar demonstrator arrested for trespass”
and would not stand or walk. The wife,
smelling inequality, called immediately
each time and screamed for him to “bring
the dog home,” but Sarge knew her mind.
Banks’ subtle writing about the dissolution
of this family is deeply affecting.
Many of the characters populating the
stories live hardscrabble lives in upstate
New York or Florida. As in the title story,
many characters are in times of transition.
In “Snowbirds” Isabel had finally conon her property. This ruined the landscaping, leaked into her garage and destroyed a
fence. Finally, she took the KCA to court
in order to force them to fix the alley’s defective invert and redress the damage to
her property.
Dohanich won her lawsuit but said that
it took 20 months and hundreds of hours of
her own time (she represented herself ) to
get the KCA to repair a situation that was
their duty to repair. She said she wanted to
remind Kentlands residents that responsibility to see that things function properly
falls on both sides of the table and that they
do not need to be victims.
“I think the takeaway from this discussion today is that when we do inspections,
we need to have a very clear list of what we
care about and what we don’t want them to
inspect for. And we have started moving in
that direction,” Harris said.
“We all need to make sure that those
items are communicated to the citizens as
we go forward and also make sure there is
a mechanism in that inspection process so
that we enforce standards — like the proper grades in alleys — on ourselves.”
www.facebook.com/TownCourier
vinced her husband to winter in Florida,
when during a tennis lesson, he “dropped
to his knees as if he’d won the final at
Wimbledon and died of a heart attack.”
In “Outer Banks,” a newly retired couple,
traveling south in a RV, look for an appropriate place to bury their beloved dog that
just died.
Others stories show people at a vulnerable moment. Harold in “Christmas Party” is invited to celebrate the season at the
home of his ex-wife and her new husband,
Harold’s former best friend. “Help us decorate the tree! Bring an ornament!” the invitation enthuses. In “Lost and Found,” at a
convention of fellow plumbing professionals, “most of them middle-aged and older men with wives at home,” Stanley runs
into Ellen, a Marriott events coordinator
with whom he had a fleeting affair years
earlier and now harbors unsettled feelings.
The stories are not consistently strong,
but so many are beauties that I can recommend this collection with confidence.
Come home to
‘WOW’!
Amy Schwartz
Interior Decorator
(240) 505-4765
[email protected]
www.amyschwartzinteriors.com
Page 20
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014
kaufman’skitchen
from page 18
stirring rapidly while adding so they don’t
curdle. Stir in potato starch.
Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites
until stiff. Fold into cabbage mixture.
Pour into prepared pan(s). Bake until
golden, for 50 minutes. Serves 20.
Marble Chocolate Chunk and
Cinnamon Meringues
It’s a new era for Jewish home bakers.
Kosher baking ingredients have evolved
and kosher food in general has become
more gourmet. Now, Paula Shoyer offers
a thoroughly modern approach to Jewish
holiday baking, organizing them by hol-
idays, and including both contemporary
and traditional recipes, more than 45 of
which have been skillfully tailored for
Passover. This is from her “Holiday Kosher Baker: Traditional and Contemporary
Holiday Desserts.”
4 large egg whites, at room
temperature for at least 2 hours
1 cup (130g) sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (80g) confectioners’ sugar
4 ounces (115g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/4 – inch (6-mm)
pieces
Preheat oven to 230°F (110°C). Cover a
cookie sheet with parchment paper. Beat
egg whites with an electric mixer at high
speed until stiff. Reduce speed to low and
add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until
mixed in. Raise the speed to high and beat
for 10 full minutes, until thick and shiny.
Sift the cocoa, cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar together into a small bowl.
When the egg whites are ready, spoon
out about half of the whites into a separate bowl and set aside. Add the cocoa and
sugar mixture to the remaining whites in
the mixing bowl, along with three-quarters of the chopped chocolate, and mix on
low speed to combine. Add the reserved
whites back into the bowl and use a silicone spatula to mix very gently, not com-
pletely, to create a marbled effect. Using
two large spoons, scoop up the meringue
batter and place dollops on the prepared
cookie sheet about two inches apart. Chop
the remaining chocolate into smaller pieces
and sprinkle on top and around the sides of
the meringue clumps. Bake for two hours.
Let cool. Store in an airtight container at
room temperature for up to five days.
Makes 8 to 10 large meringues
Editor’s Note: Reprinted with permission
from Holiday Kosher Baker ©2013 by Paula
Shoyer, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. with
photography by Michael Bennett Kress. For
more from Kaufman’s Kitchen, go to www.
cookingwithsheilah.com.
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The Town Courier
April 4, 2014 Page 21
MIKEAT THE MOVIES
The Grand Budapest Hotel (R) ****
This is one weird,
funny, audacious and
wonderful piece of filmmaking. It is not to be
watched while fatigued or
in an inattentive manner:
You’ll lose track.
Briefly, the story is the
By Mike
history of the Grand BuCuthbert
dapest Hotel, nowhere
near Budapest but with a
Hungarian and Eastern European feel. The
atmosphere is created by the use of a classic
German small town, Görlitz, an architectural museum in its own right. Its art deco
style is the feature of the film, but the “hotel” is actually a department store that was
near destruction when writer-director Wes
Anderson found it and selected it for his
centerpiece. Appropriately enough, Anderson’s selection of the department store
for the movie stimulated an investor to save
the store for more of us to see in the future.
The plot of the film, which is quite outrageously impossible, turns out to involve
the life and death of the hotel itself as it
survives various European wars, including
both World War I and World War II. Ralph
Fiennes leads the huge cast as M. Gustave,
the concierge. Other featured players include Jude Law as a writer trying to write
the history of the place, Adrien Brody
and Willem Dafoe who are both trying to
snatch Gustave who has the inside track on
the estate of late and lamented Madame D
(Tilda Swinton). Gustave assumes all the
time that he will inherit and tells his young
colleague, the new concierge and his protegé, Zero (Tony Revolori), “You’ll have
all my share when I die — minus what we
spend in whoring and whiskey.”
The action is fast, furious and funny and,
like the rest of the film, is shot in camera
movements that are always at right angles or 180-degrees. Anderson used the
right-angles technique for an earlier brilliant film, “Moonrise Kingdom.”
Anderson likes quirky things — the setting, the costumes and makeup of his characters. Agatha (Saoirse Ronan) is the most
bizarre, with a birthmark in the shape of
Mexico across her right cheek.
The script moves extremely fast, so don’t
try to understand it all on first hearing.
That’s also an explanation for the lack of
guffaws. The film quickly teaches the audience to be quiet so as not to miss three
or four laughs that ensue from the first
big one. It is to Anderson’s credit that he
takes elements of farce and an over-thetop lifestyle and unites them in a comedy
that makes you laugh while simultaneously
making you wish you had been around for
the “good old days” that it portrays.
rules at any time.
The acting is at a high level for what is
essentially an action movie, and the pace
is breathtaking, especially for a movie over
two hours in length. When you see this
movie, keep in mind that the rule is “Faction Before Blood.” You think today’s parents have challenges!
Divergent (PG-13) ****
The Muppet movies are some of the
most anticipated films of any season. This
one is as well, but many viewers are going to be disappointed. The cast is strong,
but most of them are in cameos, often of
mere seconds in length. The gimmick in
this one is a second Kermit, Constantine,
the meanest frog in the world, whose distinguishing mark is a mole on his right upper lip and his Russian accent, which is not
always maintained. The Muppets are portrayed as being so dumb that they can’t tell
the difference, thus Kermit spends most of
the movie in a Siberian Gulag in the company of Tina Fey. Fey sings (not well) and
dances, handicapped by Russian military
boots, but she is great to look at and capable of handling schtick, which is muchin-demand here. Ty Burrell is outstanding
as a hapless French Interpol agent with a
car that is too small for him, and Ricky
Gervais is perfect as villain “Number 2”
to Constantine, Dominic Badguy (pronounced “Bad Gee” — he’s French, too).
One of the main features of this film is
One of the new female stars of the age
lifts this sci-fi piece out of the ordinary.
Shailene Woodley stars, but it was Brit
Theo James (Four) who was the hit in the
end with a theater full of teenage young
women. Woodley is an odd starlet. She is
not always beautiful but always striking,
and she uses her 5’8” athletic body to great
advantage in the countless action sequences
in this telling story.
Much like Plato’s “Republic,” the script
separates the dystopian world of Chicago
into a metaphor for character: One level is
Erudite (the Smart folks), another is Amity, another Candor, and another — the
most problematic — the Dauntless. The
last, most dangerous faction is Divergent.
These are the independent spirits who cannot identify with any other faction, thus
making them dangerous to the society as
a whole.
Tris (Woodley) is clearly a Divergent
and thus under a permanent death sentence
from other factions, especially the Erudite.
Her parents, (Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn) of the Abnegation faction, recognize
early on that Tris (Woodley) is a Divergent
but face the fact that she must deal with her
identity on her own. Tris elects to become
a Dauntless (warrior faction) member and
hide her real identity.
After a shaky start, Tris does well as a
Dauntless and makes it to the highest level, though not without struggles and not
without falling for a teacher, Four, played
by James. Various alliances ebb and flow as
Tris tries to find her way out of identification with any one faction.
At times, the plotting and atmosphere resemble “The Hunger Games,” as teens are
matched against each other. A confusing
aspect of the implied and real competition
is that the instructors are free to change the
Take a
closer
look at
the Town
Courier.
www.towncourier.com
Muppets Most Wanted (PG) ***
purely for adults: Name the cameos! They
start with Christopher Waltz and continue
with Ray Liotta as a leader of the Gulag
inmates, Salma Hayek, Puff Daddy, even
Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey, Celine Dion in an extended solo, Frank Langella, a quick shot by Zach Galifianakis and
countless others as prisoners and assorted
passersby.
The plot is simply not up to Muppets
standards with gags that are funnier to describe than to hear and gaps in the timing
that hurt the overall feeling of insanity that
is the Muppets’ trademark. The writers did
their best to move the settings all over the
world. The film promises much at the start
with a rollicking “We’re Doing a Sequel,”
poking fun at themselves, but that level is
not maintained, much to our disappointment.
There is another promising tune called
“Welcome to the Big House, the Perfect
Getaway,” but one misses even better
numbers that have marked previous Muppets efforts. Maybe there were too many
in the cast, perhaps the numbers featuring
each cameo were too short, but the laughs
do not build and after a while the concept
merely becomes irritating. Kids may love it
or not. They are not apt to laugh much, but
their folks will have fun trying to fill out a
winning bracket of guest stars.
Enjoy more of Mike’s reviews at www.
towncourier.com
Page 22
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014
Sports
Quince Orchard High School Hosts Cougar Relays
By Sally Alt
T
he annual Cougar Relays event drew
a crowd at Quince Orchard High
School on a rainy Saturday on March
29. Student athletes from 30 Montgomery
County schools competed in the meet.
The Quince Orchard throwers excelled in
all four team relays in the boys’ and girls’ shot
put and discus throw events. Senior Donovan Tyler and junior Noah Vernick placed
first as a team in both the boys’ shot put and
discus throw. Sophomore I-Sha Hawkins
and senior Jamillah Jonjo took first place as a
team in the girls’ shot put, and junior Angel
Ankrah and Jamillah Jonjo together placed
first in the girls’ discus throw event.
Jackie McNulty from Oakdale High
School gave an outstanding performance in
the girls’ triple jump event, setting a meet
record. The Walter Johnson High School
runners also set a meet record in the girls’
distance medley relay.
Lucie Noall from Clarksburg High School
and Alex Armbruster from St. Andrews
Episcopal School both came from behind to
win the girls’ and boys’ division in the race
known as “The Devil Takes the Hindmost.”
At the meet, 64 girls and 64 boys competed
Photo | Submitted
Photos | Phil Fabrizio
Keegan Van Wert, a junior at Quince Orchard, competes in the 300-meter hurdles at the Cougar Relays on March 29.
in the event. Noall set a meet record by running a total of 23 laps.
All runners in “The Devil Takes the
Hindmost” race began together. After the
second lap, the devil, played by Quince Orchard Head Coach Seann Pelkey, removed
the last five players. The process was repeated after every lap, with a varying number of
competitors removed by the “devil.” At the
end of the event, the final two remaining
runners competed in a race to the finish.
Although the rain affected the student
athlete’s times, said Coach Pelkey, “the races
have been incredible.”
Noall said that she wasn’t used to running
in the rain. “It was a lot tougher than usual, but it was a good experience,” she said.
Noall, who runs 6-8 miles on most days,
added that the challenging part of the race
is preparing herself mentally for the event.
In addition to participating in “The Devil
Takes the Hindmost,” she also ran the onemile race and the 4x400 relay.
Keegan Van Wert, a junior at Quince
Orchard, ran in the shuttle hurdle relay,
300-meter hurdles, and the 800-meter leg
in the sprint medley relay events. Van Wert,
who has participated in the varsity cross
country, indoor and outdoor track teams for
the last three years, said that she most enjoyed the hurdles.
All of the coaches at Quince Orchard are
“very supportive,” said Van Wert. She also
receives support and advice from her mother, who is an athletic coach at St. Andrews
Lucie Noall (pictured right) from Clarksburg High School
and Alex Armbruster (pictured left) from St. Andrews Episcopal School won the girls’ and boys’ division in the race
known as “The Devil Takes the Hindmost.” Head Coach
Seann Pelkey (center) played the “devil” in the race.
Episcopal School. “My mom knows a lot
about running,” she said.
Senior Regina Schreiber participated in
the one-mile race and the girls’ distance
medley event. Schreiber said that the coaches helped her to prepare mentally for the races. “Anyone can be physically fit,” she said,
but the most important part of getting ready
for an event is an athlete’s mental attitude.
Schreiber plans to continue running in
college. “I can’t imagine not running,” she
said.
Schreiber, whose freshman brother is also
on the track team, said her family has shown
its support by attending track and field
events—even in the rain. She said that she
had fun at the event, despite rain.
“I personally like running in the rain,”
she said. While some people may not have
enjoyed the weather, Schreiber said, “I think
these are usually the most memorable meets
that you have.” She added, “I’m glad that we
still got the opportunity to host a meet like
this.”
Play Ball!
By Mike Cuthbert
O
pening Day for the Cougars was
supposed to be at Whitman, but the
Vikings’ field was a quagmire and
the two teams faced off at Quince Orchard
to start the baseball season. Jason Gasaway,
the Cougars’ longtime coach, was encouraged. The QO field is famous for its resiliency in the face of bad weather and, sure
enough, the field was ready. The Cougars
were not. They were out of the game after
an 8-run first inning from Whitman and
lost, 11-2.
“We just had trouble throwing strikes,
and when we did, they were just sitting
on them. We gave them a lot of fastballs,
and they were just hitting them hard,” Gasaway said.
Five walks and a hit batsman helped
Whitman to 8 runs on only 2 hits in the
first inning. The Cougars started fast in
the bottom of the first, with Sam Shin sin-
gling sharply to left and scoring on a Carson Knight single with two outs. Knight
scored the only other Cougar run in the
third on an error, and that was the scoring for QO. Edell, moving to third after a
dislocated shoulder struck Nathan Kessler,
made a brilliant, unassisted double play in
the 5th and Carter Montgomery, QO’s
third pitcher, provided the defensive highlights for QO.
The Cougars are a very young team,
very small and without varsity game experience, by and large. Gasaway has a reputation for making good players out of his
raw material. This season will be a real
test.
The continuation of the season was
delayed by the same factors that kept the
team from full practices outside, and they
continued long enough to postpone the
third scheduled game against Churchill.
That was a shame because the Cougars got
on track against Walter Johnson, 17-3.
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014 Page 23
Quince Orchard Lacrosse Opens Strong
By Syl Sobel
T
he Quince Orchard boys and girls
lacrosse teams opened their seasons
with victories almost two weeks ago,
but weather has cancelled all of their games
since then.
“This weather is no fun,” said girls coach
Jennifer Holliday Mohr.
Mohr’s girls defeated Blair on March
21 by a 6-4 score. “Both teams had really
good defense,” Mohr said. Cougar goalie
Umbar Kassa had 12 saves to anchor the
defense and Krizia Livia scored three of
QO’s six goals. The coach also credited
Maddie Arata, Gabby Moore, Skylar Saffer
and Jen Walker for their defensive efforts.
The boys beat Blair 13-4 the following
day. QO boys coach Dave Gonzalez said
his “defense was extremely solid” in the
opening game victory. Junior goalie Paul
Brott, in his first varsity game, saved 80
percent of the shots he faced in allowing
only two goals. Jake Christensen had five
goals and two assists and Brent Greenberg
had four goals and an assist to lead the attack. Midfielder Griffin Miller had two assists in transition to key the Cougars’ fast
break.
“We played very well for a first game
with all the disruptions and all the weather,” said Gonzalez.
As a result of the weather-related cancellations, both teams are scheduled to play
four games between Monday and Saturday
this week — assuming the weather cooperates.
Photo | Phil Fabrizio
On March 22 at Montgomery Blair High School, Quince Orchard boys’ lacrosse won against Blair, 13-4. Junior goalie Paul Brott made this save in his first varsity game.
Page 24
The Town Courier
April 4, 2014