n Traffic light project could be delayedanother two months, city officials say
BY EMILIE EASTMAN
STAFF WRITER
Bowie residents waiting for the green light to turnout of Evergreen Parkway onto one of the city’s busiesthighways could be waiting up to two months longer,according to city officials.
While dormant traffic light and crossing signalinfrastructure at the Evergreen Parkway intersectionnear the Bowie Town Center suggests drivers and pe-destrians will soon be able to exit onto Md. 197 moresafely, utility company Baltimore Gas and Electric stillneeds to install an electric meter, which means it couldbe months before the light is active, said city managerDavid Deutsch.
Busy Bowieintersectionstill in dark
n Tulip Grove Elementary takesover former Meadowbrook site
BY EMILIE EASTMAN
STAFF WRITER
For the first time in nearly 40 years, sevenbright yellow school buses pulled up to thefront of the old Meadowbrook ElementarySchool in Bowie on Tuesday, depositing stu-dents for their first day of school.
Meadowbrook, which closed as a schooland has been hosting community groupslike the local YMCA chapter since the early1980s, will be the temporary home of TulipGrove Elementary School for the next two
years while Tulip Grove’s old building un-dergoes renovation.
The transition means Tulip Grove staffand county school officials had to do a littleextra to prepare for the new school year,said Tulip Grove principal Jaime W. Coffen.A new crosswalk was placed near the front ofthe school and the school’s interior receivednew paint, flooring, she said.
Coffen said the move was seamless andTulip Grove families seemed excited aboutthe new building.
Coffen said one of the few downsides ofthe new space is the small parking lot, whichmeans parents will have to park on the streetif they wish to walk their children into thebuilding.
“We’ve done a lot with the city of Bowieand the county to make sure the flow of traf-fic keeps moving,” she said. “We are encour-aging parents to allow their children to ridethe buses because we don’t have enoughparking.”
Fourth-grade teacher Chris Taylor saidTulip Grove staff and educators were eagerto settle into the new classrooms, which hesaid are larger than the classrooms at theschool’s previous location.
“We’re definitely ready and super ex-cited,” he said. “I’m really excited we got tostay in Bowie. That was part of the stress.”
Lorie Castillo of Bowie said her two sons,
Bowie school reopens after 40-year wait
EMILIE EASTMAN/THE GAZETTE
Heather Segredo, a first-grade teacher at Tulip Grove Elementary School,prepares her classroom Monday.
n Weekly gathering takes on relationships,healthy communication
BY KIRSTEN PETERSEN
STAFF WRITER
Sean White, a barber at the Kettering Barbershop,said Tuesday nights at the shop are funny, serious,emotional and wholesome, but not because he’s giv-ing haircuts.
From 7 to 8 p.m., he joins 15 men from Ketter-ing and Mitchellville to talk money, relationships andcommunity outreach in a gathering at the shop calledthe Men’s Meeting.
“It’s laughter. It’s some reality. It’s a little pain be-
Ketteringbarbers cut upas men meet
n Waldon Woods principalto become county
administrator in September
BY KIRSTEN PETERSEN
STAFF WRITER
Waldon Woods principal La-Chon Winston spent her first dayback to school just like she has forthe past seven years — greetingreturning students, helping lostchildren find their classrooms andgiving information to new parents.
But in two weeks, the admin-istrator some students have calledtheir “mom away from home”will be leaving the Clinton schoolto become a human resource se-nior partner with Prince George’sCounty Public Schools.
“You don’t see or know or un-
derstand the impact you have ona community until such a time asthis,” Winston said.
Winston, 44, of Fort Washing-ton said she hesitated to accept thenew position because she couldnot see herself working outside ofa school. Before becoming prin-cipal at Waldon Woods in 2007,she worked as a teacher, regionalinstruction specialist and an assis-tant principal.
“When I was called and con-gratulated on the position, im-mediately my heart fell into mystomach,” Winston said. “I gotthe position, but I had to leave mychildren.”
The candidate to replace Win-ston will go before the board of ed-ucation on today, said Max Pugh,the acting communications direc-tor for the county school system.
Winston said there were “a
lot of tears” when she broke thenews to her staff, but she said sherecognized the position would bea stepping stone that would helpher grow and allow her to make animpact.
“I feel like if I get the oppor-tunity to put the best teachers infront of children, I think it is asimportant as being in a building,”Winston said.
Parent NaDora Stewartsaid she saw Winston when shedropped off her daughter Nailafor the first day. She said Winstonaffirmed her devotion to WaldonWoods by starting the new yearwith her students.
“It showed us parents shecares about making sure the firstday of school and the first week ofschool runs as smoothly as it has,”
A ‘mom away from home’
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Principal LaChon Winston offers words of encouragement Tuesday to students lined up for the start of classes at WaldonWoods Elementary School in Clinton.
n Bowie campaignescalates after two similar
efforts stall
BY EMILIE EASTMANSTAFF WRITER
In spite of the promise ofjobs and economic revitaliza-tion, some Bowie residents hopeto send Wal-Mart executivesshopping for a new superstorelocation instead of the proposedsite at the Duvall Village shop-ping center.
Opponents of the proposedstore say the cancellation of twonearby Wal-Mart projects thismonth gives them hope, whileWalmart representatives say theprojects are not connected.
On Aug. 6, a Prince George’sCounty zoning hearing exam-iner denied a proposal for aWal-Mart in Oxon Hill follow-ing community pushback. Wal-Mart canceled another projectin Aspen Hill in MontgomeryCounty on Aug. 12, citing theywere unsure of the length of thezoning process.
“[These examples are] defi-nitely encouraging because itshows how powerful peoplecan be when they get togetherand stand up and speak withone voice,” said Jennifer Dwyerof Bowie, an organizer of thegroup opposing the Duvall Wal-Mart. “We can even stand up tothe world’s largest corporation.”
Dwyer and some of herneighbors opposing the newWal-Mart have collected around500 petition signatures and areplanning a second petition Sat-urday to voice their concernsabout traffic, crime and other is-sues they link to the corporation.
But Wal-Mart representa-tives and several local busi-nesses are emphasizing thecommunity benefits of a newsuperstore, including the addi-tion of jobs and increased trafficat the largely vacant shopping
Wal-Martstandoffcontinues
See INTERSECTION, Page A-9
See BARBERS, Page A-9See WAL-MART, Page A-9
See SCHOOL, Page A-9
See ROLE, Page A-9
AUG. 28Preschool Open House/Back to
School Night, 7 to 8 p.m., Harmony HallRegional Center, 10701 Livingston Road,Fort Washington. Stop by Harmony HallRegional Center’s Annual “PreschoolOpen House.” It’s an opportunity to seewhat we can offer your child in the FallPre-school session that begins Sept. 2.Come meet and greet preschool staff,tour the classroom and play area, andget an overview of curriculum. We lookforward to seeing you there. Contact 301-203-6040; TTY 301-203-6030.
Congresswoman Edward’s 2014 JobFair, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Prince George’sSports and Learning Complex FieldHouse, 8001 Sheriff Road, Landover.Meet employers from national andlocal businesses; federal, state andcounty government agencies; andnonprofit organizations. Also, learnsome important job-seeking tips.Contact 301-516-7601.
1st annual All White Party, 6 to11 p.m., Greenbelt Marriott, 6400Ivy Lane, Greenbelt. First annual AllWhite Party Back to School Drive.Proceeds Benefit Samuel Chase El-ementary School. Contact 301-861-6492.
AUG. 29The Subdivision and Development
Review Committee Meeting, 9:30 a.m.,County Administration Building, Room4085 — fourth floor board room, 14741Governor Oden Bowie Drive, UpperMarlboro. SDRC is a coordination andinteragency meeting early in the de-velopment review process with the ap-plicant and M-NCPPC staff where thepublic can be invited to speak. Contact301-952-3520, TTY 301-952-4366.
Xtreme Teens: Teens on the Town —Baysox vs. Curve, 7 to 10 p.m., ColumbiaPark Community Center, 1901 Kent Vil-lage Drive, Landover. Calling all XtremeTeens who like baseball and hanging outwith their parents. Sign up for this Bay-sox and get the best of both worlds. Con-tact 301-341-3749; TTY 301-445-4512.
AUG. 30Power Slam Marvel-ACTS, 9:30 a.m.
to 4:30 p.m., Southern Regional Technol-ogy and Recreation Complex, 7007 BockRoad, Fort Washington. What does art,computers, technology and sports havein common? They are all fun. Come par-ticipate in this new innovative programand learn how to use traditional comicstoryboards to create computer generatedsport strips and animated videos. Pre-reg-istration at Southern Regional Technol-ogy and Recreation Complex is required.Contact 301-749-4160; TTY 301-203-6030.
Intro to Microsoft Word 2010, 9:30a.m., Hillcrest Heights Library, 2398Iverson St., Temple Hills. This class offersword processing basics using MicrosoftWord. Learn about creating and savingdocuments, modifying their appearanceand inserting pictures, ClipArt, Shapesand SmartArt graphics. Basic mouse andkeyboarding skills required. Registrationis required, limit eight. Contact 301-630-4900.
Crocheting and Knitting, 12:30 p.m.,Hillcrest Heights Library, 2398 Iverson St.,Temple Hills. Join us for an afternoon ofcrocheting and knitting. If possible, pleasebring your own materials, due to limitedsupplies. No prior experience needed.Contact 301-630-4900.
Intro to Microsoft Excel 2010, 2 p.m.,Hillcrest Heights Library, 2398 Iverson St.,Temple Hills. Learn how to move throughand select cells, add worksheets, rows,and columns, resize and format cells, sort,use headers and footers, basic formulasand save/print worksheets. Advancedmouse, keyboard and word-processingskills required. Registration required.Limited to five. Participants are welcomedto bring their personal laptops if the classfills up. Contact 301-630-4900.
AUG. 31Park Bingo, 2 to 3 p.m., Oxon Cove
Park/Oxon Hill Farm, 6411 Oxon HillRoad, Oxon Hill. Five in a row? Bingo.Take a ranger-led walk around OxonCove Park and use your observation skillsto help you fill in a park bingo card. For
children ages 5 – 12, and accompanyingadults. Meet Ranger Steph in the VisitorBarn. For more information, call 301-839-1176 or [email protected].
SEPT. 2Doggie Dive-In, 4 to 7 p.m., Allentown
Aquatic and Fitness Center Outdoor Pool,7210 Allentown Road, Fort Washington.Come bring your pal out to the pool forour second annual Doggie Dive-In. Dogsmust be friendly, social and curbed beforeentering pool. Please note: proof of up-to-date vaccinations must be presentedbefore entry. There is a limit of two dogsper owner. Cost is resident: $4; non-resident: $5. Contact 301-449-5566; TTY301-446-6802.
Chesapeake Chorale Open Rehearsal,7:30 to 10 p.m., Christian CommunityPresbyterian Church, 3120 Belair Drive,Bowie. Like to sing? Come join the Chesa-peake Chorale for its open rehearsal. TheChesapeake Chorale is an auditionedcommunity chorus now beginning its34th season. Visit www.chesapeakecho-rale.org, call 410 721-5422 or email [email protected].
SEPT. 3Prince George’s County District III
Coffee Circle, 9 to 11 a.m., Wegmans atWoodmore Towne Centre in Glenarden.First Wednesday of each month. Contact301-602-6857.
Capitol Heights Bike with the Chief,6 p.m., Capitol Heights Police Depart-ment, 401 Capitol Heights Blvd., CapitolHeights. As part of the Capitol Heights“Healthy Heights II” Initiative, join usevery other Wednesday to Bike with theChief, Chief Anthony L. Ayers, Sr. of theCapitol Heights Police Department. Con-tact 301-420-2444.
THE GAZETTEPage A-2 Thursday, August 28, 2014 bo
EVENTSSend items at least two weeks in advance of the paper in which you would like them toappear. Go to calendar.gazette.net and click on the submit button. Questions? Call 301-670-2070.
is Ebony Archer. Spend Friday eve-nings with Bowie Town Center forlive music and family time. Contact301-860-1401 or [email protected].
BestBet
FRI
29
MORE INTERACTIVE CALENDARITEMS AT WWW.GAZETTE.NET
A&EPrince George’s Little Theatre presents Simon’s
semi-autobiographical play “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”
SPORTS Bishop McNamara and Riverdale Baptist open the football seasonon Saturday. Check online at Gazette.net for coverage of both games.
GAZETTE CONTACTSThe Gazette-Star – 13501 Virginia Manor Road
Laurel, MD 20707Main phone: 240-473-7500
Fax: 240-473-7501
Download theGazette.Net mobile appusing the QR Code reader, orgo to www.gazette.net/mobilefor custom options.
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Why is the pollen count high?What causes thunder?Email [email protected] your weather-relatedquestions and they may beanswered by an NBC 4meteorologist.
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The Gazette (ISSN 1077-5641) is published weekly for $29.99 a year by The Gazette, 9030Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877. Periodicals postage paid at Gaithersburg, Md.Postmaster: Send address changes. VOL. 17, NO. 35 • 2 SECTIONS, 24 PAGES
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THE GAZETTEThursday, August 28, 2014 bo Page A-3
n New immersioninstruction startsat three schools
BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU
STAFF WRITER
Like thousands of PrinceGeorge’s parents, Franklin Shel-ton of Bowie dropped his daugh-ter Zion off for her first day ofkindergarten Tuesday morning.But unlike many kindergartners,Zion would be walking into aclassroom where the only lan-guage spoken would not be hernative English, as one of PrinceGeorge’s County’s three newSpanish Immersion programs.
The Spanish language im-mersion programs opened Aug.26 at Phyllis E. Williams Elemen-tary in Largo, Overlook Elemen-tary in Temple Hills and CesarChavez Elementary in Hyatts-ville.
Zion, 5, said she was lookingforward to her first day of kin-dergarten in the program.
“I think it will be fun. Mysister said Spanish is hard, but Idon’t think so,” Zion said.
Shelton said he felt the expe-rience would be of great benefitto his daughter.
“I realize we live in a globalsociety, and it will be to her ben-efit to speak to a broader groupof people. I also think it will alsohelp with her reasoning andproblem-solving skills,” Sheltonsaid. “While I understand thatimmersion will require her tospeak in the Spanish languagein school, I think she will thrive.”
Inside one of Phyllis E. Wil-liams Elementary’s kindergartenclassrooms, Spanish Immersionteacher Elisha Young greetedeach student with “hola” mean-ing “hello” in English.
Young went around theroom, singing to each student“Como te llamas tu?” — “Whatis your name?” in Spanish.
The first few children stared.
Young pointed to their namebadge. One kindergartner said“I don’t know,” but then some-one answered with their name.Soon more students caught on,and the students were asking thequestion along with the teacher.
While it can be a challengefor students to begin theirschool careers in a languagethey don’t know, the benefitsare great, said Ralph Sierra, P.E.Williams’ Spanish Immersioncoordinator.
“According to the research,the younger a child learns a lan-guage, the easier it is for themto develop that facility,” Sierrasaid. “Furthermore, they see im-provement in other content ar-eas. Also, when they learn a thirdlanguage, they acquire it faster.”
Anne Baum of Hyattsville isthe parent of a student in Ce-sar Chavez Elementary’s dualEnglish-Spanish Immersionprogram. At Chavez, instructionis given half in English and halfin Spanish.
The new Spanish immer-sion program was one of thehighlights of school system CEOKevin Maxwell’s school systemrevamp, and came at the urg-ing of several parents, includingthe grassroots organization MyBilingual Child, which formedlast year.
Gina Bowler of Upper Marl-boro is co-founder of the group.Her daughter, Francesca, is en-rolled in the Spanish Immersionprogram at Overlook Elemen-tary in Temple Hills.
“I’m just elated that it’s fi-nally happening, and I just com-mend Dr. Maxwell, the schoolboard and the County Councilfor all they did in making thishappen,” Bowler said. “I’m veryexcited about it, and I have highexpectations that these pro-grams will be successful.”
n Students begin classes,careers at ChesapeakeMath & IT Elementary
BY ALICE POPOVICISTAFF WRITER
Tuesday morning asschools across Prince George’sfilled with nervous studentsand their parents, crisp newbackpacks and high expecta-tions for a new year, Chesa-peake Math & IT Elementary inLaurel staff and students werepreparing to make history.
For the new kindergar-ten through fifth-grade pub-lic charter school known asCMIT, Tuesday was the firstever day at the county’s new-est addition.
CMIT is the first STEM-focused public charter ele-mentary school in the county,following in the footsteps ofthe Chesapeake Math & ITAcademy in Laurel, which en-rolls sixth through 12th-gradestudents, according to PrinceGeorge’s County Public Schoolofficials.
A new middle school calledChesapeake Math & IT Acad-emy South, based on the sameeducational philosophy, isopening this fall in Forestville.
“It’s kind of nice going to anew school, find new friends,”said James Butler, Jr., 6, ofBowie in his first-grade class-room.
James added that he is ex-cited about the school’s com-puters and its LEGO room,where students will work onengineering and technologyprojects based on a curricu-lum developed by the toy com-pany.
Tomiko Butler said sheand her husband, James But-ler, Sr., were excited about theschool’s science, technology,
engineering, mathematics, orSTEM, focus.
James Butler, Sr. said theydecided to enroll James at theschool after seeing how welltheir older daughter, 15, is do-ing academically after trans-ferring from her public schoolto the Chesapeake Math & ITAcademy in Laurel.
“He’ll be exposed to ecol-ogy ... building ecosystemsusing frogs. I think it’s reallyneat in the first grade,” saidTomiko Butler, 46. “We’rehappy the county is offeringSTEM schools. It opens up thewhole world.”
Principal Treesa Elam-Respass said the school isstructured to help students “tobe critical thinkers, problemsolvers and evidence-based
decision makers.”Aside from the LEGO
room, the school features asoon-to-be-completed ecol-ogy lab with a turtle pond andplants as well as a room wherethey’ll be able to watch moviesin 3-D.
Elam-Respass, a first-yearprincipal who has worked asan educator for the past 18years, said CMIT was brim-ming with excitement on thefirst day of school.
She said she has tried tomake curiosity and a thirst forknowledge part of the school’sculture.
“It’s important that ourteachers are lifelong learnersso they can teach and inspirelifelong learners,” she said.
Courtney Rhodes of Laurel,
who is beginning her teachingcareer this year as a first-gradeteacher at CMIT, said many ofher 26 students were nervouson Tuesday as they settled intothe classroom.
To make things fun, shesaid she picked a frog themefor her classroom, which hadgreen chairs and frog-themedname tags for each child.
She said the motto for herclass is written on a board out-side the room: “Leaping intoFirst Grade.”
“I was very interested inbeing part of something newand exciting,” Rhodes said.“I’m looking forward to a greatyear.”
Harvis Macon (right) of Bowie says goodbye to his sons, Brandon Macon (left), 9, and Harvis Macon II, 10, onthe first day of school Tuesday at the new Chesapeake Math and IT Academy in Laurel.
JAMIE ANFENSON-COMEAU/THE GAZETTE
Franklin Shelton says goodbye to his daughter, Zion, on Tuesday before herfirst day of kindergarten at Phyllis E. Williams Elementary in Largo.
n Educators say they planto incorporate research
in lessons
BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU
STAFF WRITER
Five Prince George’sCounty Public School teacherswere among over 200 teachersnationwide who took part ina three-day workshop to edu-cate teachers on the history ofthe Holocaust.
Dorothy Edwards of Suit-land High School in Forest-
ville, Marsheda Ewulomiof Bowie High School, ErinO’Leary of Duval High Schoolin Lanham, Corinna Takigawaof William Wirt Middle Schoolin Riverdale and TimothyWilson of Surrattsville HighSchool in Clinton took part inthe 18th Annual Arthur andRochelle Belfer National Con-ference for Educators.
The event as held in July atthe United States HolocaustMemorial Museum in Wash-ington, D.C.
“In the face of rising anti-Semitism and Holocaust de-nial, educating students aboutthis history is becoming in-
creasingly urgent,” Peter Fred-lake, director of the Museum’steacher education and specialprograms, said in a statement.
Wilson said the three-dayprogram featured a presenta-tion by a Holocaust survivorand interactive lectures on thesocial and political history ofthe Holocaust, as well as rec-ognizing, preventing and re-sponding to genocide.
“In the upcoming schoolyear, I plan to incorporatewhat I have learned into mylessons in ninth-grade U.S.History and U.S. Government,to provide one or more pro-fessional developments for
my social studies colleagues,and to encourage my studentsto conduct independent re-search into the Holocaust andother instances of genocideas they participate in PrinceGeorge’s County History Day,”
Wilson said in an email.Edwards, a media special-
ist, said she intends to createa learning display in SuitlandHigh’s Media Center for eas-ier access to information andbooks she gathered from theconference.
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n Family-owned businesswelcomes second- andthird-generation families
BY EMILIE EASTMANSTAFF WRITER
Jashaun Britton of Bowiesays bigger is not always betterwhen it comes to day care.
When searching for childcare options in 2008, Brittonsaid she was drawn back to aplace she had worked nearly10 years earlier that is widelyregarded as the oldest day carein Bowie.
Britton said the charm ofTom Thumb Day Nursery inBowie is the small class sizes,personal atmosphere, and thefact that it has been family-owned and operated for 50years.
“When we were looking atday cares, I didn’t like the im-personal, punching a numberto get in [atmosphere],” shesaid. “[Tom Thumb] is small,the teachers have been thereforever and they know every-body’s name. It just seems likethe big companies are com-ing in and people want bigger,brighter, newer and it doesn’tnecessarily seem like they’regetting better quality.”
Tom Thumb was foundedby Rita and Scotty Valeo ofBowie in 1964 and has re-mained a family-run businessfor three generations. It is cur-rently owned by Kelly Valeo ofCrofton, who bought the busi-ness from her father and uncle
in 2005, she said.The center has an enroll-
ment of around 50 children,starting at age 2, and offers af-ter-school care for children upto fifth grade, she said.
Valeo said Tom Thumb hasflourished almost entirely onword-of-mouth and that sherarely markets the center’s pro-grams.
“We’ve had a lot of familieswhere the second generationhas come through — wheretheir parents used to come andnow their children come too,”she said.
Bryan Smith of Crofton saidhe grew up in Bowie and at-tended Tom Thumb as a child,and enrolled his own 2-year-old son, Gideon, at the day carelast year.
“It’s nice to have somethingthat’s so constant in the com-munity,” Smith said. “In a timewhen things are so fast-pacedand always changing, its nice toknow something has remaineda cornerstone in the commu-nity.”
In addition to families re-turning over multiple genera-tions, day care director DonnaMiluk said about 50 percentof the staff have been with theday care for more than 10 yearswhich Valeo said is rare for theday care industry.
“There’s not a big turnover,which is a big point for us,” Mi-luk said. “Everyone gets alongwell together, everybody backseverybody up. The families aregreat too — great to work with.”
Ginger Prince of Odentonteaches a 4-year-olds class atTom Thumb said she has beenwith the day care center for 30years.
Prince said she used toteach the parents of some ofthe children currently enrolledat the center — including BryanSmith.
“I think that’s what keepsus going,” she said. “The fam-ily legacy and the people whohave been here before. Thereare newer day cares, but I thinkours is more homey, morefriendly.”
David Emanuel, executivedirector of the Greater BowieChamber of Commerce, saidTom Thumb is just one exam-ple of how Bowie still is like asmall town.
“It’s just a hometown,home-spun place and a lotof the mom and pop placesare still thriving,” he said. “Sowhen you hear about a 50thanniversary it’s something tocelebrate.”
Ginger Prince, who has been teaching at Tom Thumb Day Nursery for 31 years, tells a story Aug. 21 to children atthe Bowie center.
n Oxon Hill communitymembers say efforthas led to reduced crime
BY KIRSTEN PETERSENSTAFF WRITER
Roads are smoother, va-cant properties are cleaner andcrime is down in Oxon Hill, allimprovements residents attri-bute to the responsiveness ofPrince George’s TransformingNeighborhoods Initiative.
TNI, which launched inApril 2012, seeks to improvequality of life in six communi-ties that face economic, health,public safety and educationalchallenges, according to thecounty website.
Since TNI started, countyofficials have worked to reducecrime, implement road repairsand control traffic, said BarryStanton, the deputy chief ad-ministrative officer for publicsafety and the team leader ofthe Glassmanor/Oxon Hill TNIarea.
Violent crime from Jan. 1 toJuly 31 was down 16.7 percent,compared to the same timelast year, in this area, Stantonsaid. Langley Park was the onlyTNI area with a greater violentcrime reduction, where violent
incidents dropped by 20 per-cent, Stanton said.
“The big thing for me isgaining the community’s trustin Glassmanor/Oxon Hill,”Stanton said. “Keep your word.When you say you’re going todo something, do something.”
When a yellow traffic signappeared in the middle of herproperty, Saralin Riley-Ray, 50,of Oxon Hill, said she askedthe county to move it. The signdidn’t budge until she broughther concern to a TNI meeting,she said. A week later, the signwas relocated to the end of herproperty.
“We actually get thingsdone,” Riley-Ray said. “They’reactually taking care of the TNIand we’re looking better.”
Riley-Ray said road andlighting improvements haveencouraged her neighbors towalk and bike around the com-munity, and she hopes visitorsand future residents see there’smore to the area than NationalHarbor.
“We want to continue mak-ing a nice transition for the peo-ple who are coming into theseneighborhoods and see that it isnot only the harbor, it’s the sur-rounding area,” Riley-Ray said.
Curtis Valentine, the presi-dent of the River Bend Civic As-
sociation, suggested at a Aug. 20meeting that TNI officials createa frequently asked questionsdocument for the Glassmanor/Oxon Hill community with in-formation on trash collectionand seasonal expectations onresidents, such as shovelingsidewalk snow in the winter.
He also asked if utilitycompanies, such as Pepco andWSSC, could notify residentswhen they plan to do work intheir neighborhood. TNI offi-cials said they would look intoboth requests.
“The onus is on the utilitycompanies to do that,” Valen-tine said. “We fully expect theTNI team to voice our concernsto their counterparts at the util-ity companies.”
Valentine, who is also amember of the county’s boardof education, said he felt TNI of-ficials recognized the validity ofhis concerns.
“I think the first step is rec-ognizing this is an issue that hasnot been previously raised andthat creating more efficient andcost-effective government be-gins with efficient communica-tion with residents,” Valentinesaid.
Bryan Smith, parent of childenrolled at Tom ThumbDay Nursery
THE GAZETTEThursday, August 28, 2014 bo Page A-5
n South county residentsmentor youth,lead art programs
BY KIRSTEN PETERSENSTAFF WRITER
During their sophomoreyear at Oxon Hill High School,A’Leighsha Butler and Nia Bargecame up with a creative solutionto end a conflict between theirfriends — they hosted an openmic night in Barge’s basementcalled “Stop the Beef.”
Now, the Prince George’sCounty pair is encouraging stu-dents to do the same and usetheir talents to transform theircommunity through their non-profit, Dreams Work Inc.
Butler, 27, of Temple Hillsand Barge, 28, of Clinton teamedup with Daniel Bradley, 33, ofLaurel and Upper Marlboro ac-tor Anwan Glover to form thenonprofit in 2009.
“It seemed like we couldcollaborate to form an organiza-tion that could meet a lot of theneeds of young people and bringcreativity as well,” Butler said.“We’ve been able to do prettygreat things together.”
Dreams Work Inc., hashosted anti-bullying workshopsat Benjamin Stoddert MiddleSchool in Temple Hills and
violence prevention programsat Friendly High School in FortWashington.
Bradley, who has worked ingang and crew prevention, saidhe enjoys how Dreams WorkInc., offers a healthy way foryoung people to communicateabout painful experiences be-fore they turn to violence.
“Now to be able to steerthem in a different direction isjust very, very rewarding. I can’tsay enough about that,” Bradleysaid.
During one of the after-school initiatives at BenjaminStoddert, students created a40-minute film called “StringsDream” about a talented violin-ist who was bullied. About 2,000people came out to Communityof Hope A.M.E. Church in Tem-ple Hills to see the premiere,Bradley said.
When it comes to the proj-ects students do, Barge said theyhave creative control.
“We try to provide them witha framework for an idea but welet them scope out their proj-ect,” Barge said.
Butler, who attended Ben-jamin Stoddart herself, said itwas “surreal” to go back withDreams Work Inc.
“When I went to that schoolI never saw myself as workingwith young people, so I enjoyed
being able to come full circle andhelp young people like myself inmy community,” Butler said.
Kyrri Haston, 18, of TempleHills said he was on the “road todestruction” until he met Brad-ley at Friendly. His mentorshipmotivated Haston to earn hisGED and enroll at Bowie StateUniversity this fall.
“He called me every day,checking up on me, makingsure I was doing the right thing,”Haston said. “Once you enterthe program it’s like a brother-hood. They will do whatever ittakes to make sure you’re suc-cessful, whether you’re in schoolor you’re in the workforce.”
Bradley said Dreams WorkInc., has applied for a grant towork with Benjamin Stoddard,Concord Elementary Schooland Longfields ElementarySchool for the 2014-2015 schoolyear. Butler said if the grant isawarded, the nonprofit wouldtutor students and teach themdrama skills that would apply totheir studies.
“The most rewarding thingis to work with young peopleand see that impact, to see themreach for higher heights thanthey had ever imagined,” Brad-ley said. “It really teaches kidshow to dream again.”
Prince George’s duo makes ‘Dreams Work’ through nonprofit
DANIEL BRADLEY/DREAMS WORK, INC.
A’Leighsha Butler (right), 27, of Temple Hills leads an after-school drama workshop at Parkdale High School with hernonprofit, Dreams Work Inc. The nonprofit encourages youth to use their talents to bring awareness to social issuesand solve problems in their communities.
n Meow Luau offersdiscounts on fees
BY KIRSTEN PETERSENSTAFF WRITER
An Upper Marlboro animalshelter will be transformed intoa tropical paradise to help catsand kittens find their own oasis— a forever home.
The Meow Luau, a Hawai-ian-themed adoption event,will be held from noon to 6 p.m.Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.Saturday at the Prince George’sCounty Animal Services Facilityin Upper Marlboro.
Twenty cats and kittenswere adopted at the first MeowLuau, which was held Aug. 15and Aug. 16, said Rodney Tay-lor, the associate director of theAnimal Services Facility.
“What a ball of fun,” Taylorsaid. “We had a great turnout. Itwas a good event.”
Rodney said the goal for thesecond luau is to have 30 to 35cats and kittens adopted into“forever homes,” a term foradopters that agree to take careof their new pets for the dura-tion of their lives.
“We need to get as many ofthese animals adopted out intoloving forever homes,” he said.
During the spring and sum-mer, the facility experiences aninflux of all animals, but catsespecially, Taylor said. Peopletend to find cats and their kit-tens while they are outside do-ing gardening or yard work,Taylor said.
“It’s really a community is-sue,” Taylor said. “That’s whywe promote spay and neuter sothese animals will not reproduceand have a lot of kittens.”
Tim Saffell, president of thePrince George’s Feral Friends,SPCA, Inc., trains residents tocontrol their feral cat coloniesthrough collaborative trap-neu-ter-return programs. He saidcommunicating with neighborsis key to creating a solution to agrowing feral cat colony.
“You find some people whoare already feeding those samecats, others who don’t want tohave anything to do with thecats and you can begin to edu-cate them,” Saffell said.
Adoption fees are reduced to$5 during the Meow Luau, Tay-lor said. People who participatein the luau’s limbo contest mayhave their fees waived, Taylorsaid.
The facility is located at 3750Brown Station Road in UpperMarlboro.
Prince George’s police ar-rested a man Monday in con-nection with the death of aWashington, D.C., man whowas found dead in Oxon Hill.
Police responded to the re-port of a shooting at the 5000block of Glassmanor Drive inOxon Hill around midnightSaturday and found KennethAntoine Jones, 36, dead of ap-parent gunshot wounds, ac-cording to police.
Officers arrested AntjuonRiddick of the 500 block of Wil-son Bridge Drive in Oxon Hillon Monday and charged himwith first degree murder, po-lice said.
Investigators believe Joneswas shot after he and Riddickgot into an argument at a party,police said.
This activity report is pro-vided by the Prince George’sCounty Police Department as apublic service to the communityand is not a complete listing ofall events and crime reported.
block Marlboro Pike, 10:59 a.m.Theft from vehicle, 15000
block Marlboro Pike, 11:47 a.m.Theft, 700 block Harry S Tru-
man Drive, 1:20 p.m.Theft, 10600 block Campus
Way S, 1:37 p.m.Commercial property break-in,
9800 block Greenbelt Road, 2:38p.m.
Theft from vehicle, 2900 blockBarrister Lane, 4:30 p.m.
Theft from vehicle, 6500 blockPrincess Garden Pky, 8:12 p.m.
Theft, 3900 block Town Cen-ter Blvd, 8:51 p.m.
District 4Headquarters, Oxon Hill,
301-749-4900. Temple Hills, Hill-crest Heights, Camp Springs,Suitland, Morningside, Oxon Hill,Fort Washington, Forest Heights,Friendly, Accokeek and Windbrook(subdivision in Clinton).
AUG. 18Vehicle stolen, 2800 block
Wood Hollow Place, 5:34 a.m.Theft from vehicle, 4600 block
n Officials say deathof two childrenhighlights need
BY EMILIE EASTMANSTAFF WRITER
After several Prince George’sCounty residents and two tod-dlers were killed this month indomestic-related homicides,county police and nonprofit or-ganizations are calling on com-munity members to join thefight against domestic violenceby raising awareness and report-ing suspicious activity.
Still I Rise, a Clinton-basedorganization that supports do-mestic violence survivors, held aprayer vigil Saturday in remem-brance of Knijah Bibb of Wash-ington, D.C., and Laila Miller ofFort Washington — two 3-year-old girls who were victims of do-mestic homicides this month.More than 20 faith organizationscommitted to participating inthe vigil, said Glenda F. Hodges,Still I Rise CEO.
“I am saddened and shockedby the spike in the numbers andthe kinds of things happening,”Hodges said “I think it’s goingto require major education forfamilies to help them under-stand what it means to approachproblems in a healthy way. Theresearch says that most batter-ers and victims are living outwhat they saw growing up.”
After Laila Miller’s death,county police chief Mark Magawstressed the importance of com-munity participation, sayingMiller’s neighbors knew of do-mestic issues at the house, buthad not contacted police priorto the shooting.
“This has been a challengingmonth and domestic violencehas played a huge part in thatchallenge,” Magaw said. “WhatI’m saying to the community isthis — if it’s your house or yourcommunity, call us.”
According to the most recent
Maryland uniform crime reportfrom 2013, there were 16,817 do-mestic violence incidents acrossthe state, about 1,000 fewer thanin 2012.
Over the past year, countyofficials and law enforcementagencies have renewed domes-tic violence prevention effortsthrough the county’s “211” crisishotline, which was establishedin October, and the formation ofa special domestic violence unitwithin the county police depart-ment in July 2013.
Lt. Charmaine Harvin, com-mander of the domestic vio-lence unit, said the fight againstdomestic violence is far fromover, but that the new unit willallow victims to get immediateaccess to support services andhelp bring cases to trial.
“In the year we have beenin existence we can say we havebeen effective. We’re seeing alot of cases we pursue presentedto the States Attorney’s office,”she said. “We’re hoping that 211will help us push this informa-tion out there. I think a lot ofpeople don’t know there is helpout there for people who suffersilently with domestic violence.”
Michaele Cohen, execu-tive director of nonprofit coali-
tion Maryland Network AgainstDomestic Violence, said herorganization oversaw “lethalitytraining” at every law enforce-ment agency in Prince George’sCounty over the past year, train-ing agencies to recognize andassess the potential of domesticviolence in a situation.
Cohen said domestic vio-lence can manifest itself in moreways than physical harm.
“Sometimes if people don’thave actual physical injuries,they might not realize they’re atrisk,” she said. “[Domestic vio-lence] is about power and con-trol, so if you’re in a situationwhere you’re living with some-body who’s very controlling,very jealous, that could be a signthat there is a problem.”
Hodges said she hopes theawareness campaigns will en-courage community membersto focus on domestic violenceprevention and victim support.
“There is a better way,” shesaid. “We need to try to findhope in all of this and we alsoneed to find ways of healing.”
The Family Crisis Center ofPrince George’s County’s hot-line is 301-731-1203.
County groups seek greaterdomestic violence awareness
RAPHAEL TALISMAN/FOR THE GAZETTE
Barry Braan prays Saturday evening at the Forestville New RedeemerBaptist Church during a prayer vigil for two toddlers killed in domesticviolence-related situations.
n Survey focuseson unhealthy behaviors
BY JAMIEANFENSON-COMEAU
STAFF WRITER
Prince George’s Countyteens use drugs and alcoholless than their peers, but en-gage in less physical activityand other unhealthy practices,according to a national survey.
The Atlanta-based U.S.Centers for Disease Controland Prevention, or CDC, re-leased its annual report onteen risk behaviors in June.
The CDC’s Youth Risk Be-havior Surveillance System,or YRBSS, was administeredto high school students acrossthe country from a period ofNovember 2012 to December2013. In spring 2013, over 3,200from Prince George’s Countyhigh school students took thesurvey.
“I think we are pretty muchin line with data from theYRBSS generally, and there area few areas of improvement,but we never stop trying toeducate the community abouthow to approach dealing withsubstance abuse issues,” saidSarah Rosenburg, programchief for youth services with
the Prince George’s County Be-havioral Health Division.
The goal of the survey isto track a number of teen be-haviors that can lead to healthcomplications or death, in-cluding sexual behaviors, vio-lence, tobacco and drug useand driving habits, accordingto the CDC’s website.
Prince George’s Countyresults mirrored national re-sults in many categories suchas riding with a driver who’dbeen drinking (22.1 percent)contemplating suicide (17 per-cent) or having four or moresexual partners (14 percent),but found that higher percent-ages of teens were offered,given or sold drugs at school(32.5 percent) and were havingsex without using any form ofbirth control (20 percent) thanthe national average.
Gail Addison, president ofthe Bladensburg-based EndTimes Harvest Ministries, anonprofit that works with teensin the Port Towns area, said theresults weren’t surprising.
“That’s believable, andthat’s why we have this HealthyLiving, Active Lifestyles Ini-tiative in Prince George’sCounty,” Addison said.
The initiative includestraining teens to be WellnessAmbassadors, and to go out
and educate other teens onhealthy living choices, Addi-son said.
Earnest Moore, executivedirector of Men Aiming Higher,a Bowie nonprofit that workswith teens, said the informa-tion is out there, but teens getmixed messages from media.
“What they see on You-Tube or on reality televisiontends to counteract the in-formation that’s out there,”Moore said. “Teens are becom-ing inundated with images andideas that once were taboo,and that has the effect of nor-malizing such behaviors.”
The results showed a lowerpercentage of Prince George’sCounty teens reported usedmarijuana (36.4 percent) oralcohol (23.2 percent) than na-tionwide.
“The strategy is reallyabout changing the thinkingpatterns of youth, and helpingthem make better choices,”Rosenburg said.
Prince George’s and othercounty results can be foundat phpa.dhmh.maryland.gov/cdp/SitePages/youth-risk-sur-vey.aspx.
Report: Prince George’s teens useless drugs, alcohol than peers
Marylanders can catch afireworks show, try two newfried foods and take childrento their own mini amusementpark during the final days ofthis year’s state fair.
Edie Bernier, a spokes-woman for the Maryland StateFair said new fair featureshave attracted more people tothe annual event, which con-tinues through Monday at theTimonium Fairgrounds.
“Attendance has beenvery good despite the rain
on Saturday,” Bernier said.“We’re looking forward togood weather this weekend.”
Special activities thisweekend include live thor-oughbred horse racing, achildren’s tea party Friday, anarm-wrestling competitionSaturday and a fireworks dis-play on Sunday.
At the new Kiddie Landrides area, children can enjoy“tame, but exciting” rides in-cluding the Monkey Maze andthe Happy Swing.
Bernier said the top itemon her state fair bucket listwould be seeing the livestockand horse barns, which shecalled a “great educationalexperience.”
“Many youth of today arenot familiar with agricultureand where our food comesfrom. They just think that yourfood shows up at the grocerystore and they don’t know theprocess of farming,” Berniersaid.
— KIRSTEN PETERSEN
State fair concludes final weekend
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n More than 2,000 attendWar of 1812 weekendcommemoration
BY ALICE POPOVICISTAFF WRITER
Not even the rain thatpoured down Saturday on Blad-ensburg Waterfront Park couldsoak the enthusiasm of thecrowds who brought their pon-chos, umbrellas and thirst forhistory to a festival marking the200th anniversary of the Battleof Bladensburg.
The “Undaunted Weekend:Battle of Bladensburg” event,a War of 1812 bicentennial cel-ebration five years in the mak-ing, featured music, theater,food and costumed re-enactorsplying 19th century trades suchas spinning wool and weavingchair seats out of cattail leaves.
Organizers say about 2,000people attended the event de-spite steady downpours.
But the main attraction onSaturday was an hour-long re-enactment of the Battle of Blad-
ensburg, which took place Aug.24, 1814, before British troopsmarched into Washington, D.C.,and set fire to the White House,the U.S. Capitol and other build-ings.
“There was smoke...whenthey shot the guns there wasfire,” said Charlotte Williams, 7,of Hyattsville, who attended there-enactment with her family.
And when the soldiers firedthe canons, she said “you couldkind of feel the ground shaking.”
American soldier re-enactorGavin Schroeder, 50, of Laurel,said performers have learned towork in all kinds of weather.
“We walked through practi-cally a swamp dragging a heavycannon,” said Schroeder, whoattended the event with his wife,Rhonda, also a re-enactor. “Wewere in the first line of defense... We fired five or six rounds ofthe cannon at the approachingBritish.”
Schroeder said the rain andhumidity even added special ef-fects to the performance.
As the cannons fired and theburnt powder and smoke mixed
with the rain, “The grass in frontof the muzzle was just steam-ing,” Schroeder said. “It lookedbeautiful.”
Linda Bradley, 61, of Hyatts-ville said she and her husband,Clinton, had been looking for-ward to the event .
Bradley said she attendedthe dedication of a monument inhonor of American soldiers whofought in the battle and laterwatched a surgeon re-enactordemonstrate how medicine waspracticed on the battlefield.
“It was a good time,” saidAaron Marcavitch, executive di-rector of Anacostia River TrailsHeritage Area, a nonprofit thatcollaborated on the project withcounty and Maryland-CapitalNational Parks and PlanningCommission officials. “We werethrilled that the communitycame out.”
Marcavitch said a few hun-dred people toured historichomes and attended a fireworksdisplay on Sunday.
History enthusiasts march on to county milestone despite rain
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Men re-enacting American soldiers from the War of 1812 fire a cannon at Bladensburg Waterfront Park on Saturdayduring a staging of the Battle of Bladensburg as part of the 200th anniversary celebration of the battle.
n County executive hopefulalso must repay $50K
Randy McRae, the formergeneral counsel for the PrinceGeorge’s County CommunityDevelopment Corp., has beensentenced after being con-victed of multiple counts oftheft in June.
After being appointed tothe Prince George’s CountyCDC in 2005, McRae of Croftonforged documents and openedfraudulent bank accounts thatallowed him to pocket countyfunds meant to reimburse theCDC for operating expenses,the State’s Attorney office said.
On Aug. 1, McRae was sen-tenced to one year in jail andordered to repay the $50,000he stole from the county and afriend, the county State’s Attor-ney’s Office announced.
McRae was also sentencedto three years supervised pro-bation and given until the endof those three years to repay thefunds, the States’ Attorney’s of-fice said.
— EMILIE EASTMAN
Former officialgets one-yearjail sentence
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“It’s kind of frustrating forfolks because it looks like it’salmost done,” Deutsch said.“And it is close, but it’s just aquestion of getting the electricalelements. We’ve reached out toBGE and asked them to help ex-pedite [the process].”
Charlie Gischlar, a spokes-man for the State Highway Ad-ministration, said SHA’s workhas been completed on the traf-fic light project and that the stateis waiting on Baltimore Gas andElectric.
Rachael Lighty, a BGEspokeswoman, said an electricmeter will allow BGE to trackelectricity and know how muchto charge its customer.
Lighty said BGE has alreadycompleted field visits and cancomplete the meter installationin about one day, but is waitingon additional electric work to bedone by SHA, which indicatedvia a spokesperson that the de-lays lies with BGE.
Deutsch said City Councilmembers realized the severity ofthe need for a traffic light at theintersection after City Hall was
moved next to the Town Centerin 2011, and had been petition-ing state officials for a signal eversince.
Dwayne Preston, deputypolice chief for Bowie, said theEvergreen/Md. 197 intersec-tion is busy, but not necessar-ily more dangerous than otherlarge intersections in the city.Traffic accident numbers for theintersection were not availableat press time, but Preston saidthere was a pedestrian fatality
there about five years ago.“We wouldn’t consider it to
be a dangerous intersection, butobviously with the volume oftraffic and it being a four-lanehighway, it can be difficult attimes [exiting] Evergreen andtrying to cross oncoming traf-fic,” Preston said. “The intersec-tion will benefit from having atraffic signal there. I think it willease traffic a little more there.”
Bill Roudabush, 66, of Bowielives in a community next to Ev-
ergreen and said the new trafficsignal can’t be activated soonenough.
“Are they going to wait tilsomeone else gets killed there?”he said. “It’s too dangerous.”
Roudabush said even mak-ing a right turn onto Md. 197from Evergreen can be challeng-ing and that his wife often drivesthrough Bowie Town Center inorder to avoid the intersection.
Kesha Smith of Bowie livesoff Evergreen and also said shetakes the roundabout routethrough the town center, espe-cially during the afternoon rush.
“Waiting for all that traffic,especially in the mid-day, you’rethere forever,” she said. “I didhave a close call there one day.I’ve been wondering when theywere going to finish [the trafficsignal project].”
Deutsch said he hopes BGEwill be able to speed up theelectrical process and finish thesignal project sooner than thetwo-month mark.
“Hopefully we can shave aweek or two off that,” he said.“We’re close, we’re just hopingto get it finished fairly soon.”
center. At an Aug. 14 com-munity meeting, Wal-Martsupporters discussed waysto encourage communitysupport of the project, saidAmanda Henneberg, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman.
“Hundreds of area resi-dents and local businesseshave voiced their support forour plan,” she said. “A hand-ful of those supporters met lastweek to discuss ways to raiseeven more awareness in thecommunity about the positivebenefits our store could pro-vide, including 300 additionaljobs, economic revitalizationand convenient shopping op-tions.”
Henneberg said the shelv-ing of the Oxon Hill and AspenHill projects will not affect theprogress of the Duvall storebecause the projects are inde-pendently processed and ap-proved.
Chanel Smith of Bowiesaid she opposes the DuvallWal-Mart because of issueslike noise, traffic and light pol-lution, and is hopeful countyofficials will draw parallels be-tween the proposed superstoreand the recently cancelledprojects.
“I’m just optimistic andhoping the County Councillooks at all the reasons weraised,” she said. “I’m hopingthey’ll take a look at the rea-
sons [the Oxon Hill and AspenHill projects] were denied be-cause some of the reasons weresome of the concerns we havehere.”
David Harrington, presi-dent of the Prince George’sCounty Chamber of Com-merce, said resident feedbackand even protests can be valu-able to the business commu-nity.
“There clearly is a pub-lic process for these kinds ofthings and the communityshould have a right to weighin, but this would also dependon the community being in-formed about the business,” hesaid. “Citizens do have a rightto say what they think.”
Jaesuk Lee, owner of APlus Tae Kwon Do martial artsstudio in the Duvall shoppingcenter, said he doesn’t havea strong opinion on whetherthe Wal-Mart project movesforward, but wishes his com-munity would come to anagreement on the issue.
“I don’t understand whythey’re fighting each other forthis,” he said. “If the neighbor-hood doesn’t want the Wal-Mart to come in, then whydon’t they get someone elseto come in? Why don’t theysearch for another big com-pany to come into the emptyplace like a big supermarket?Then everybody is happy.”
The intersection of Md. 197 and Collington Road and Evergreen Parkway inBowie will soon have operational stop lights.
Jeremy and Colin, attend TulipGrove and that the new locationis more convenient for her fam-ily.
“I live closer to this so that’swhy,” she said. “The only prob-lem is the small parking space.”
Seven-year-old KaseemBrooks of Bowie, a Tulip Grovestudent, had a succinct opinionabout the new building.
“It’s gonna be awesome,” hesaid.
Not all community mem-bers are as excited about Tulip
Grove’s move into the Meadow-brook building.
Jackie Dilworth, a spokes-woman for the YMCA of Met-ropolitan Washington, said theorganization is still looking fora permanent space after mov-ing out of Meadowbrook tomake room for the school. Thetransition to a smaller spaceat Trinity Lutheran Church inBowie means the YMCA had totemporarily suspend some of itsprogramming, she said.
“We are currently offer-ing school-aged child care, butthe one unfortunate side effectis we did have [a program] forchildren with disabilities, but
because of the move, we werenot able to continue it,” she said.“That was pretty important to usbecause it was the only programin Bowie that offered child careservices to kids with disabilities.Hopefully construction of [TulipGrove’s] new school will be ex-peditious.”
Coffen said that Tulip Groveparents and students reactedvery positively to the new build-ing during orientation Monday,and that the smiles on the chil-dren’s faces reassured staff andteachers the Meadowbrook lo-cation would be a success.
“One of the things aboutchildren is they’re resilient.
I think sometimes as adultswe’re nervous and anxious, butI think children like new, theylike change,” she said. “I thinkseeing the children when theywalked in the building [for ori-entation] and how excited theywere about being here, thatmade all of us feel excited. “[Thebuilding] is nurturing and it’s in-viting, but it’s real now becausethe children are here.”
For back-to-school pedes-trian safety tips from the BowiePolice Department, visit www.cityofbowie.org/pedestrians.
cause we do go through things,”said Sean’s brother, Craig White,also a barber at the shop. “Youget what you need as a man.”
Craig White started theMen’s Meeting in May. He saidhe was driving to work when hegot the idea.
“I was listening to my gospelmusic and something told me,‘You should have a men’s meet-ing,’” Craig White said. “It was aSaturday and that Tuesday wehad a meeting.”
Four men attended thatfirst meeting. The turnout has
since quadrupled. Fifteen to 20men, ranging in age from 16 to70, regularly attend the weeklymeeting, Craig White said.
“For me it’s inspiring thatGod gave me something I canuse to help others,” Craig Whitesaid.
Jerome Davis, 41, of Ketter-ing, is a Metrobus driver andsaid the meetings have helpedhim learn how to communicatewith young passengers.
“As grown-ups we don’t al-ways manage our tone,” Davissaid. “It helped me on the busto calm it down a bit to talk tothem.”
Robert Pena, 54, of Waldorfis the owner of the barbershop
and said he has enjoyed inter-acting with other men and hear-ing stories about relationships atthe meetings.
“I can learn from any per-son, especially if they’ve alreadydone it,” Pena said. “Those arethe people I like to gravitate to-ward, people who have experi-enced these situations.”
When it comes to discussiontopics, “you name it, we touchon it,” Craig White said.
“We talk about how to be-come a better father, a betterhusband, and basically a betterperson and begin to think clearlythrough a situation,” Sean Whitesaid.
“We call it a men’s meeting,
but it’s really to help the family,”Craig White added.
Craig White recalled whenone man found out his stepsonhad gotten in trouble at school.Instead of going straight homefrom work, he stopped by theMen’s Meeting.
As soon as he walkedthrough the door, he startedtalking, even though the meet-ing had already started, CraigWhite said.
“We stopped and started lis-tening,” he said.
They discussed strategiesfor talking to his stepson andreminded him to listen, CraigWhite said.
“When he left he said, ‘I’m
glad I came here first becausethis gave me a lot of stuff to thinkabout,’” Craig White said. “Hewas on fire when he came in thedoor and when he left he was atotally subdued person.”
The brothers agree that themeeting has helped them seethat sharing their situations withother men can help them findsolid solutions.
“Men say they can’t wait un-til the Men’s Meeting. I think it’sreally helping a lot of people,”Craig White said. “It’s helpingme in the fact that I realized I’mnot the only one going throughthis stuff.”
Campbell-Ferriera said shewas nervous about starting theschool year without Winston.
When she found out shewould be at Waldon Woodsfor the first two weeks, Camp-bell-Feriera said her anxiety
dropped “to a ‘2’ from ‘100.’”“That’s probably going to
make the transition easier,”Campbell-Ferriera said. “Thefirst two weeks are the crazi-est.”
Before Winston even con-
sidered leaving the school, shesaid she worked with staff toplan for the new school yearand the implementation of theCommon Core curriculum.Karen Walters, the instruc-tional lead teacher for reading,
said Winston’s preparation putthe staff on the right path dur-ing this transition.
“We were ahead in thatmind-set,” Walters said. “Yes,we were disappointed, but wewanted to keep with what this
“We call it a men’s meeting, but it’s reallyto help the family.”Craig White, Men’s Meeting founder
THE GAZETTEPage A-10 Thursday, August 28, 2014 bo
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What are the Signs andSymptoms?
Exams are recommendedmore often after the age of40 to check for age-relatedconditions.
Signs and symptoms in-clude:
• Hard time reading smallprint
• The need to hold readingmaterial farther than arm’sdistance
• Problems seeing objectsthat are close to you
• Headaches• Eye strainIf you experience any of
these symptoms, you maywant to visit an eye careprofessional for a compre-hensive dilated eye exami-nation. If you wear glasses orcontact lenses and still havethese issues, you might needa new prescription.
How is PresbyopiaCorrected?
Eyeglasses are the simplestand safest means of correct-ing presbyopia. They willhave higher focusing powerin the lower portion of thelens. This allows you to readthrough the lower portionof the lens and clearly seedistant objects through theupper portion of the lens. Itis also possible to purchasereading eyeglasses. Thesetypes of glasses do not re-quire a prescription and canhelp with reading vision.
For more informationabout refractive errors andeye health, visit nei.nih.gov/healthyeyes.
-National Eye Institute
‘Aging eye’ condition affects nearly everyone
Photos.com/Stockbyte
By Kristen CastilloIf you’re terminally ill and
need cash, you might considera viatical settlement, which isselling your life insurance policyto a third-party investor.
“The life policy owner re-ceives cash today in return fortransferring the face amount ofthe policy due on his death tothe investor,” said Ed Grebeck,CEO of Tempus Advisors. “Thecash settlement today is theface amount of the life policy,discounted over the years of thepolicyholder’s expected death.”
The buyer becomes the ben-eficiary and has to pay the pre-miums or else loses some of theinvestment. After the originalpolicy owner dies, the buyercollects the face value of thepolicy.
“A viatical settlement typicallymeans the client has less thanone year to live, and the value oftheir policy increases dramati-cally, sometimes as high as 80percent of the face amount,”explained Barry Waxler of Uni-versal Financial Consultants.
Settlement HistoryViatical settlements rose to
popularity during the 1980s,when the AIDS epidemic
surged. Many AIDS patients,who didn’t have traditionalbeneficiaries such as wives andchildren, had short life expec-tancies and wanted to cash inon their life insurance policies.
“In principle, policyholdersellers and investors are in con-flict,” said Grebeck. “As life ex-pectancies of AIDS and otherterminally ill patients increaseddue to advances in medicine,viatical settlement investor re-turns declined.”
Pros And ConsThe good thing about viatical
settlements is the tax-free cash,what Waxler said is consideredan advance or a loan against theultimate death benefit. “Theycan use that cash for anythingthey want or need, with no re-strictions,” he said.
The downside? Sellers and in-vestors pay commissions on thetransactions. Plus, when youopt for a viatical, you’re sellingyour policy at a deep discount.
“Many firms that buy viaticalsprey on the terminally ill, and assuch, see a desperate need forcash,” said Waxler.
He suggested holding out forthe death benefit, if possible, orasking friends or family to loanyou money, using the policy as
collateral.“This is done by using the
carrier’s collateral assignmentforms, and the loan is paid atdeath at far more reasonableterms than the viatical insti-tution will pay for them,” hesaid.
AlternativesViatical settlements can be
risky deals and are not neces-sarily the only option.
One of Waxler’s clients re-cently contacted him aboutselling her life insurance policyand using the money to pay formedical care not covered by herhealth insurance. When he re-viewed the policy, Waxler foundan “accelerated death benefit”rider, which entitled the clientto “an advance on the deathbenefit of 25 percent of the faceamount.”
The client was able to get$250,000 of tax-free benefits touse right away, while she wasstill alive.
“Most people sell their poli-cies while in a terminal statebecause of financial hard-ship,” said Waxler. “If youcheck the accelerated benefitsriders that most policies comewith, you may find a better so-lution.”
Blessing Or Curse?Viatical settlements may
seem morbid, but they’re of-ten a viable option for seniorsin need of cash.
“All in all, a viatical can bea blessing to a family in need,or it can be a curse, hinged onwhat the client needs today,”said Waxler. “A terminallyill patient, or their family,should always consult a fi-nancial planner to see all ofthe options available.”
The Federal Trade Commis-sion offers consumers the fol-lowing advice:
• Contact several viati-cal companies to make sureyou’re getting the best value.
• Don’t be lured by high-pressure sales tactics.
• Check with your state’sinsurance regulators to makesure your viatical companymeets state licensing require-ments.
• Confirm your viaticalcompany isn’t planning tosell your policy to a thirdparty.
• Make sure the companywill protect your privacy.
• Consult with your attor-ney about probate and estateimplications.
-Creators.com
Should you sell your life insurance policy?
COMSTOCK/STOCKBYTE/THINKSTOCK
By Malcolm BerkoDear Mr. Berko: The grand-
mothers and great-grand-mothers at our bridge clubwere trying to select the mostuseful birthday gifts for ouryoungsters. We all agree thatit’s a waste of money to buytoys, which are mostly plastic,or clothing, which is soon out-grown and often not made inthe U.S. We want to give a last-ing gift that could grow in value.None of us have much money,but we’re thinking about buy-ing a few shares of a good stockand reinvesting the dividends,which we hope would enableus to buy a few more shares forother important events duringthe year. What stocks would yourecommend, and how shouldwe do this?
- EE, Syracuse, N.Y.Dear EE: I earnestly applaud
this wonderful idea. Frankly, Ibelieve that our younger gen-eration would be considerablybetter off if more folks wouldthink like you gals. So manygifts are a stupid waste of time,money and intentions—andare thoughtless, too. Commonstocks are gifts that last a life-time and also provide a won-
derful learning opportunity forthose youngsters who are luckyto have thoughtful, thinkinggrandfolks like you and yourbridge club ladies.
Meanwhile, I’ve sent you a listof stocks that I think your kidsmight enjoy owning. Each paysa decent dividend, and eachcompany is an American iconthat the youngsters will readilyrecognize. Coca-Cola, GeneralElectric, Pfizer, AT&T, McDon-ald’s, Microsoft Corporation,Revlon, Mattel and Dow Chem-ical Company are a few classyissues that should continue toincrease their revenues, earn-ings and dividends, and theirwell-known branded productsare easily identifiable. Thesestocks, each of which trades onthe New York Stock Exchange,will make great starter issuesfor your grandkids. They caneasily follow the daily changesin stock prices and read abouteconomic events in the newsthat affect their companies.Best of all, they can actuallybecome owners of Americanindustry. The dividends can bereinvested quarterly, and eachquarter, these companies willsend the youngsters reports on
how well the stocks are doing.Once a year, the companieswill send the grandkids color-ful annual reports discussingtheir customers, their productsand new products being devel-oped while summarizing theimportant company events ofthe past year. The presidentsof these companies will invitethe juniors to their companies’annual meetings. It can be afascinating experience to watchcorporate autocracy at work.And many of those meetings areheld in New York City.
Now, none of the large bro-kerage firms—such as Mer-rill Lynch, UBS, MorganStanley and Prudential—havethe slightest interest in helpingyou establish a small accountfor grandkids. They will dis-courage this business and don’tcare to be bothered becausethis is an unprofitable transac-tion. Even if you do prevail atMerrill, UBS or any of the wirehouses, they’ll apply annualaccount fees between $50 and$100 a year, and commissioncosts that will exceed yourshare purchases. So, I suggestthat you ring Charlie Schwabor Fidelity Investments or Van-
guard to open an account underthe Uniform Gift to Minors Act.You’ll the grandkids’ Social Se-curity numbers, and you’ll haveto sign a boatload of papers (al-ways paperwork), which maydrive you bonkers. Then you’reready to purchase popular yetnon-blue chip companies,such as Brinker International,Abercrombie & Fitch and FootLocker. And if you enter theorder personally on the broker-age’s platform (without usinga representative), the commis-sion costs will be only about $9.If you’re not computer-savvy,you can use the firm’s helpdesk, which can give you clearinstructions. Use the children’saddresses so all the mail will goto them.
Few companies still issuestock certificates, so the bro-kerage will mail quarterly state-ments to the kids, showing thecurrent share position plus thenew fractional share positionsacquired by the quarterly divi-dend payments.
Malcolm Berko’s column,“Taking Stock,” can be found atcreators.com.
- Creators.com
Giving kids the gift of common stocks
Marili Forastieri/Getty Images/Thinkstock
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ForumForumGazette-StarThursday, August 28, 2014 | Page A-11
Unpleasant timesin Seat Pleasant
OUROPINION LET TERS TOTHEEDITOR
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Seat Pleasant Mayor Eugene Grant (left) holds a meeting Aug. 22 in thetent he erected outside City Hall. City Council members evicted Grantfrom his office over allegations he created a hostile work environment.
Seat Pleasant Mayor Eugene Grant sure knows how tomake lemonade out of lemons — or, as he puts it, makeopportunities out of obstacles.
The City Council recently kicked Grant out of office,literally. Although he stillhas the city’s top job, he lostaccess to his mayoral officespace over claims he had cre-ated a hostile work environ-ment for city employees.
Grant denied the allega-tions about his conduct, butdidn’t dwell on them long.Instead, he went mobile. He
has set up a tent outside City Hall, where he continues toconduct business. He is also taking his “office” on a tour,setting up shop in various parts of the city and makinghimself more accessible to the public.
His resourcefulness and dedication to the job is com-mendable, but having such a political sideshow going on isdamaging the image of Seat Pleasant, which has struggledto redefine itself as the “City of Excellence.”
While both the council and mayor probably believetheir actions are for the good of the community, going tosuch humiliating extremes is doing just the opposite. Afterall, how is city business expected to be taken care of whenthose in charge cannot work things out in a productivemanner?
Communication between Grant and the council haslong been a problem, even on matters important to theSeat Pleasant’s progress. Late last year, Grant was caughtby surprise when the council unexpectedly nixed a plan tobuild the $100 million City Center Project, a highly touteddevelopment that would have housed an urgent careclinic, senior housing and a new City Hall.
“Everything looked like it was good to go,” Grant toldThe Gazette in December.
And prior to Grant losing his office, he said the councilnever even gave him a chance to defend himself againstthe allegations.
Adding to the debacle is that, according to media re-ports, Grant is allowed to meet with residents in City Hall;he just can’t use his office. If Grant’s behavior is as deplor-able as described, taking away a political perk while stillhaving him work in close proximity to the employees heallegedly harassed is sure to aggravate the problem.
The mayor should conduct himself professionally andrespectfully, so if the claims against Grant are true, it raisesmajor concerns about his leadership. However, a reviewof city policies regarding elected officials’ conduct andworkplace and sensitivity training need to be the course ofaction in such cases — a desk reassignment simply doesn’tdo enough.
And the council must handle complaints in a profes-sional and respectful way, as well. Grant should have beengiven an opportunity to respond to the allegations againsthim, rather than have the council make a decision withouthearing his side.
Looking at Seat Pleasant’s bigger picture, the officespace truly is a small item. Grant still has access to resi-dents, City Hall and any documents needed to do his job.The council’s actions seemed more of a way to embarrassGrant than a solution to the alleged problems at hand.
In the end, those who suffer are Seat Pleasant’s resi-dents. They elected leaders in hopes of revitalizing thecity, bringing economic development and improving thequality of life. Instead, they are saddled with a leadershipmodel that has its mayor operating in a tent.
Summer’s almost over, but, as we wan-der the beach for the last time, some inter-esting political nuggets wash ashore.
Guilt by associationCASA In Action, the Latino political
action group, recentlydemanded that Re-publican gubernatorialcandidate Larry Hogan“take a principledstance ... by publiclydisavowing (Freder-ick County) Sheriff(Chuck) Jenkins.”
Why? BecauseJenkins’ vigorousenforcement offederal immigrationlaw led to a 2008arrest by his deputies of a Latino womanquietly eating lunch on the curb. Althoughshe was committing no crime, she wasarrested, found to be an illegal alien andjailed. CASA sued, and a federal courtruled that the arrest was a violation of thewoman’s rights because it was not linkedto a criminal act. So Hogan should disavowJenkins.
Fine, but shouldn’t Democratic guber-natorial candidate Anthony Brown like-wise disavow Gov. Martin O’Malley who,when it comes to illegal arrests, makesSheriff Jenkins look like a piker?
When he was Baltimore’s mayor, run-ning for governor, O’Malley suppressedthe city’s embarrassing crime rate by usinga “zero tolerance” policy of unwarrantedmass arrests of thousands and thousandsof innocent city residents, includingpeople walking to church. In many cases,the victims were strip-searched and jailedwithout charges.
In 2006, the NAACP and the ACLUfiled suit against the city, resulting in a$870,000 settlement and consent decree
against the police department. That’s whyCASA should insist that Brown disavowO’Malley.
Celebrate Election DayMaryland Congressman John Delaney
(D-Dist. 6) has a way to improve voterturnout. He’s filed a bill in Congress mak-ing Election Day a national holiday.
Looks good on paper, but, in reality,it’s bound to backfire. Currently electionsare on Tuesdays during the workweek.Make that Tuesday into a holiday andmost folks will take annual leave on Mon-day and enjoy a four-day vacation!
If you believe people will stick aroundto vote, then you probably believe thatmost folks celebrate our fallen troops onMemorial Day and our workers on LaborDay.
If you’re white, it’s alrightRemember Julius Henson? He’s the
black Baltimore political consultant in-volved in the infamous 2010 governor’srace robocalls advising black voters to stayhome because O’Malley and Obama (whowasn’t even running) were safely elected.
But the jury only convicted Henson ofconspiring to not have the recorded robo-calls include an “authority line” identifyingthe robocalls’ political sponsor.
Nevertheless, State Prosecutor EmmetDavitt brought Henson to trial, where ajudge sentenced him to 60 days in jail, 30months of home detention, 500 hours ofcommunity service and four years of pro-bation, during which he was banned frompolitical campaigns. Then, Attorney Gen-eral Doug Gansler won a $1 million civilfine against Henson.
Henson went to jail. In Maryland,that’s how we treat authority-line violators— unless you’re a white Democrat.
Last week, Brian Bailey, a white Balti-
more County Democrat who unsuccess-fully ran for the House of Delegates, wassentenced for creating a phony websiteattacking one of his opponents. Not onlydid Bailey’s website lack an authority line,he paid for it with personal funds, anotherviolation.
Yet, Bailey got “probation before judg-ment” (no conviction) and was only sen-tenced to one year’s probation, 200 hoursof community service and a $500 fine. Noris Gansler filing a civil suit.
Davitt, the same prosecutor who triedHenson, said Bailey’s sentence “was fair.”
Spare the rodThis year, Maryland’s school systems
are relaxing discipline codes and reducingsuspensions by treating violators, instead,with “restorative justice.” Meanwhile, withonly a few weeks before school opens,Baltimore city has 211 teacher vacancies,up from 87 vacancies in 2012. Just a coin-cidence?
So that others may tokeIn California, the Berkeley City Council
recently passed an ordinance mandatingthat medical marijuana dispensaries setaside 2 percent of their inventory, so thecity can distribute the pot to low-incomeresidents (individual incomes less than$32,000, family incomes under $46,000),who otherwise could not afford the weed.Who says this isn’t a great country?
Berkeley’s “pot stamps” law is thenation’s first, but can Takoma Park andMontgomery County be far behind?
Blair Lee is chairman of the board ofLee Development Group in Silver Springand a regular commentator for WBALradio. His past columns are available atwww.gazette.net/blairlee. His email addressis [email protected].
Summer flotsam
You have chosen to embrace a poisonissue. By doing so, the voters may very welldecide that instead of three terms, youshould be limited to one term.
Look, previous councils have tried allkinds of tricks, fun and games to eliminateterm limits altogether. Nothing worked,much to the dismay of Mr. Hendershot,a major proponent. The attempts only
served to disgust the voters.The president of the U.S. seems able to
accomplish his agenda in two terms. Youshould be able to also. Every other argu-ment for additional terms is nothing morethan a smokescreen to disguise the realmotivation, namely, the plush office, staffat your beck and call, salary, attention andother perks that go with the office.
You know this, and so do the voters.Get over it. By continuing this charade,you do both yourself and your constituentsa grave disservice.
Instead of worrying about a third term,just do your job with the two or one termyou’re lucky enough to have now.
Mark Noblett, Upper Marlboro
‘Do your job’ and leave term limits alone
Recently, I was reading while sittingupstairs at the library. I saw signs that ap-propriately prohibit food and drinks in thelibrary, but I didn’t see signs that restrictcellphone use. I might have missed a signthat directs patrons to put their phones onvibrate, but my concern is not directed atthe library staff but my fellow library userswho don’t use common sense.
A patron who was reading some maga-zines thought it was OK to have her phoneon the loudest ringtone possible and thenanswer the phone when it rang. To makematters worse, she had to yell, “Hello.Hello. Hello,” because she couldn’t hear.
This woman was so loud that I ob-served others across the way look over tosee who was making so much noise.
The second time the disruption oc-curred, I firmly asked her to take it else-
where, which she did, thankfully. After thepatron left, I observed a young man pagethrough a magazine while checking hiscellphone. Mind you, he looked at a pagethen shifted his gaze to the cellphone.
We have to be reminded to deal withphones in places of worship, movie the-aters and hospitals, just to name a fewareas where intelligent people shouldn’thave to be treated like kindergartners. Ieven heard a woman talking on her phonein a restroom stall at the movies once.
If it were legal to keelhaul people, I’dnominate the folks who indiscriminatelyuse their phones in inappropriate places.
Cellphones are wonderful devices, butlibraries, places of worship, movie theatersand restrooms are not the places for them.
Karen Acton, Chief Executive OfficerMichael T. McIntyre, ControllerDonna Johnson, Vice President of Human ResourcesMaxine Minar, President, Comprint Military
Dennis Wilston, Corporate Advertising DirectorChauka Reid, Advertising ManagerDoug Baum, Corporate Classifieds DirectorMona Bass, Inside Classifieds DirectorJean Casey, Director of Marketing and Circulation
Anna Joyce, Creative Director, Special Pubs/InternetEllen Pankake, Director of Creative ServicesLeah Arnold, Information Technology ManagerDavid Varndell, Digital Media Manager
Vanessa Harrington, Senior EditorJeffrey Lyles, Managing EditorGlen C. Cullen, Senior Editor Copy/DesignMeredith Hooker,Managing Editor InternetWill C. Franklin, A&E Editor
Ken Sain, Sports EditorDan Gross, Photo EditorJessica Loder, Web Editor
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What if the attributes of personalitymost responsible for academic initiativedevelop between birth and the age of twoyears? What if the confidence, courage andcuriosity of childrenare the direct out-come of parentalnurturing duringinfancy?
In his book“Why Children Suc-ceed,” author PaulTough presents anumber of findingsthat seem to suggestthat children be-come intrepid tod-dlers in direct proportion to the frequencyand intensity of parental nurturing in thetwo years immediately following birth.Children who want for attentive nurtur-ing during infancy, conversely, tend to bemore fearful and unsure of themselves.
The former are more inclined to per-severe when challenged; the latter moreinclined to surrender.
The implications are immense for earlychildhood education.
Yes, we need to initiate children intoage-appropriate educational settings atan earlier age, but interventions may beneeded to ensure that fewer children arestarting preschool at a disadvantage.
Schools are not leaving children be-hind. Too many children arrive at schoolwearing the intellectual shackles of cir-cumstance.
We must attempt to eradicate the er-roneous concept — still held as certain, bysome — that not much is happening in themind of an infant.
We now know that infants are activelyengaged in figuring out their place in theworld almost from the moment they areborn.
The rudiments of the ambient lan-
guage appear in the babbling of infants atthree months of age.
Perhaps it is time for a series of publicservice announcements targeting youngparents regarding the importance of activeparenting in those first critical years.
Surely, the medical, religious and edu-cation communities could put togetheradult education programs that teach thefoundational nurturing behaviors that in-fants require.
Some might see this as an intrusioninto the private lives of parents. Still, thefounder of the Children’s Defense Fund,Marian Wright Edelman, asserts that“protecting today’s children, tomorrow’sMandela or Mother Theresa, is the moraland common sense litmus test of our hu-manity.”
Kenneth B. Haines is the president ofthe Prince George’s County Educators’Association.
Infant years can help prep children for success
COMMENTARYKENNETH HAINES
1885
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1885014
THE GAZETTEPage A-12 Thursday, August 28, 2014 bo
BOWIE | UPPER MARLBORO | LARGO | CLINTON
www.gazette.net | Thursday, August 28, 2014 | Page B-1
SPORTSSPORTSGAMES GAZETTE.NET IS STAFFINGPosted online by 8 a.m. the following day.
FOOTBALL: Riverdale Baptist opens its season.
Linebacker Reggie Hills (left) and the rest of theRiverdale Baptist football team opens its seasonSaturday against Archbishop Spalding.
FOOTBALL: McNamara at Mount St. Joe, 1 p.m. Friday
St. Vincent Pallotti wins its football opener. B-3
BY PRINCE J. GRIMES
STAFF WRITER
It was a rough end to the 2013football season for Bishop McNa-mara High School.
The Mustangs begin the 2014season having lost five consecu-tive games, all to WashingtonCatholic Athletic Conferenceopponents. That came after theMustangs opened the 2014 sea-son with five straight victories.
Even though the season un-raveled, a bright spot was quar-terback Ramar Williams.
In his sophomore season,Williams led the county andWCAC with 2,654 passing yards.He also threw 24 touchdownsand completed 62 percent of hispasses.
In addition, Williams led theteam in rushing with 778 yardsand added another 10 touch-downs on the ground.
He said the team wasn’tmentally prepared to survivedown the stretch last year whenthey faced the elite teams of theWCAC.
“We just broke down men-tally. [The experience] was some-thing new for a lot of guys. But Imean — it is what it is and we’regoing to come out here and keepworking hard,” Williams saidduring a practice.
The Mustangs are preparingto start fresh when they openthe season Saturday in Baltimoreagainst host Mount St. Joseph.
Williams said he didn’t enterlast season with a goal of the mostpassing yards and that’s exactlyhow he’s approaching this fall.
“That’s in the back of mymind. Right now, I just want toget to the championship thisyear,” Williams said. “It wasn’teven a goal [last year.] It was just,go out there and have fun. Andwhatever happens, happens. ...I tell my receivers everyday inpractice, ‘If I give you the ball,just do work.’ Do what you’resupposed to do, and they do therest.”
Williams’ top target from lastseason, Jordan Crockett, is now at
Ready for the spotlightGREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Quarterback Ramar Williams (left) hands the ball to running back Keith Sherald, Jr. during Aug. 21 Bishop McNamara football practice.
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Quarterback Ramar Williams drops back to pass during Aug. 21 Bishop McNa-mara football practice.
n Team starts overafter reaching state semifinals
BY ADAM GUTEKUNST
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
Fresh off of winning the 4A South Re-gion title last year, the program’s first statetournament birth since 2005, longtime HighPoint High School girls volleyball coach Shir-ley Diggs is getting back to the basics this fall.Even for a program that churned out five All-Gazette players last season, each preseasonunder Diggs begins with the fundamentals.
“Every year for me is truly a buildingyear,” said Diggs, who coached the Eaglesfrom 1990-1995 before returning again in2003. “Many of our kids, they don’t know thegame of volleyball when they get here. Theydon’t do club ball and they’re not in any off-season club, and so every year I start from thebeginning.”
Last year’s success is irrelevant to Diggs,she said, despite returning two key contribu-tors. In fact, she won’t talk of last season at all.
“I can only work with what I have thatyear,” Diggs said.
For now, the defending region championsstart from square one.
High Point’s refrain rings true among the
other annual county contenders: Experienceleaves, inexperience fills the void left behindand the coaches are left to mold and matchthe pieces, some with little game experience,into a cohesive unit.
At Eleanor Roosevelt, coach Eileen Lloyddescribed the task before her very simply.
“We’re pulling up from [junior varsity]and working with what we have,” said Lloyd,
who lost seven seniors to graduation last year.Though such a loss of experience would
be devastating to most programs, for Roos-evelt it’s simply another offseason. In 2012,the Raiders graduated nearly all of their con-tributors from a team that made a run to thestate tournament. Come 2013, Lloyd was left
High Point building on last year’s success
High Point High School’sgirls volleyball team cel-ebrates winning the 4ASouth Region final lastyear. The Eagles arestarting over this fall,according to longtimecoach Shirley Diggs.
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Junior quarterback hopes to lead Mustangs to WCAC championship game
See VOLLEYBALL, Page B-2
See MCNAMARA, Page B-2
n Girls soccer: Mustangs poised to be morecompetitive in WCAC
BY JENNIFER BEEKMANSTAFF WRITER
A high school girls soccer coach might typically beconcerned by a decrease in the players attending tryouts.But in the case of Bishop McNamara High School this fall,it was actually a positive sign, coach Edgar Rauch said.
McNamara has not been competitive in arguablythe Washington, D.C. area’s strongest league, the Wash-ington Catholic Athletic Conference, but in recent yearsRauch has made a concerted effort to try and attractmore committed and experienced soccer-first athletes inan attempt to revamp the program. The Mustangs lookedbetter in a five-win season last year but this fall could bethe year for the recent changes to take hold.
“This is no longer just a seasonal pastime, a recreationalsport for kids to just come out for the team,” Rauch said.
McNamaradoes morewith less
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Bishop McNamara High School girls soccer player Paige Ste-phenson (right) practices Tuesday at Walker Mill Regional Parkin District Heights.
n Boys soccer: With just three playersreturning, Bowie should still compete
BY ERIC GOLDWEINSTAFF WRITER
There should be a learning curve for the Bowie HighSchool’s boys soccer team. Only three players returnfrom the team that reached the 2013 4A South Regionfinal. Only a few days until the fall season, new coachFrantz Deetjen said he hasn’t finalized what formationhe’ll implement.
But the early signs — such as last week’s 1-0 scrim-mage loss to Bethesda’s Walt Whitman — point to an-other strong Bulldogs season. Maybe not as strong aslast year’s, though Deetjen, who was an assistant underthe recently retired Richard Kirkland, said he’s been im-pressed with what he’s seen thus far.
New coach, oldexpectations
FILE PHOTO
Bowie High School goalie Brenden LeMaster is one of threeremaining players this fall for the team.
See SOCCER, Page B-2
See BOWIE, Page B-2
“Against a high-poweredteam like Whitman, to only al-low one goal, I was pleased,”Deetjen said. “They’re still try-ing to develop [and mature] …We’ll be playing a different styleof soccer than Bowie is used to.”
One of the returning start-ers, senior goalkeeper BrendenLeMaster, said he and his team-mates have focused on improv-ing communication
“[It] isn’t the best right nowbut it’s getting better,” said Le-Master, an All-Gazette honor-able mention. [We’ve] beenworking on our positioning, andme being the goalie, I see thewhole field. They’re beginningto listen and actually take whatI say and the other players say,and execute … They’re doinggood right now.”
Senior Dalwin Granados andjunior striker Jesse Frimpongalso return for the Bulldogs, andthey’ll be joined by former D.C.United Academy players KhalidBalogun and Ioannis Kiotseko-glou, Deetjen said. Bowie alsobrings up several junior varsityplayers.
Bowie has 21 state semifi-nals appearances and nine 4Astate titles, winning its most re-cent one in 2011. The Bulldogslost to Parkale 2-1 in doubleovertime of the 2013 South Re-gion finals.
“It’s been hard, but it’ll getbetter as the season goes on,”LeMaster said.
Stags on topPerennial powerhouse De-
Matha Catholic graduated 12seniors, including All-Gazette
Player of the Year Arion Sobers,after winning the 2013 Washing-ton Catholic Athletic Conferencechampionship, but the Stagsremain one of the area’s topteams. The Hyattsville schoolreturns several key contribu-tors including midfielder JamesGielen and senior goalkeeperKeegan Meyer, who recordedshutouts in 11 of his 13 gamesstarted last season.
[The WCAC championship]is definitely the goal. We’regoing to have a process to gothrough … to really develop theyounger guys,” DeMatha CoachDafydd Evans said. “But it’s fun.It’s always exciting to start off anew team again.”
Elsewhere in PrinceGeorge’s County, look for an-other big season from the 4ASouth champion Parkale. Re-gion runner-up Bowie lost mostof its lineup but should remainstrong, while Charles H. Flow-ers, High Point and Northwest-ern could all go deep in thepostseason.
Crossland, a 3A school, islooking to surpass last season’s14-2 record and win a PrinceGeorge’s County championshipafter getting to the finals last falland losing to High Point.
Senior Andre Ferguson Jr.had a team-high 18 assists lastseason while Rodney Ngoh, acenter back, had 16 goals.
“[A county championshipis] doable,” said Crosslandcoach Andre Ferguson, father ofthe Cavaliers’ senior playmaker.“That’s what I’m trying for thisyear. I’m looking to win that thisyear.”
the University of Albany, but hissecond-leading receiver, juniorCamari Murray, is stepping intothe top role. Murray is a posses-sion-type receiver who can alsostretch the defense down thefield.
The two developed a chem-
istry last year that should im-prove this season. Murray saidhe wants to see Williams spreadthe ball around the field betterand praised his quarterbacks’abilities.
“He’s a dual-threat. He canroll out the pocket. He has goodpresence in the pocket. And hehas a good arm — [he] couldthrow the deep ball real well,”Murray said.
Another target available forWilliams to throw to is senior Al-fonso Banks, who transferred toMcNamara from George MasonHigh School in Falls Church, Va.Banks is one of 13 transfer stu-dents playing for McNamarathis year, including sophomorerunning backs Xavier Williams(North Point) and Keith Sherald,Jr. (Westlake).
Coach Keith Goganious said
the coaching staff drew up playsfor Williams to run last year,partly because of the lack of atrue running back. But he’s hop-ing some of the new pieces willallow them to use Williams lessin the running game.
“He’s the engine,” Gogani-ous said. “Let’s be honest. He’sthe engine that runs the wholeoffense for us. Everything goesthrough him as far as the plays,
as far as the checks. And that’ssomething he doesn’t mindhaving on his shoulders, thatresponsibility. He’s matureenough, as a rising junior, tohandle those situations. Andhe understands football. He’s avery cerebral young man.”
McNamara has a youngteam this season, returning justfive seniors.
“Right now, it’s a process,”
Williams said. “We got youngplayers. So with the youngplayers coming in, we also gotveterans. And the veterans onthe team help the young play-ers get situated into the season.Practice right now is a grind.Everyone is learning. It’s a pro-cess. And we’ll keep workinghard.”
“Kids are aware of the competi-tive atmosphere in the [WCAC].Numbers are down [this year]but we’re more excited aboutthe future. Hopefully we canrebuild the program with thisfoundation in mind.”
At the core of this year’ssquad are three players — An-issa Mose, Paige Stephensonand Kayla Foster — who arecoming off an Elite Clubs Na-tional League America Cupchampionship over the sum-mer.
Spending the summercompeting at such a high level,Rauch said, provided them withinvaluable playing experience.Stephenson, who looks to beMcNamara’s go-to striker thisyear, had the opportunity toteam in the offensive third withUnited States U-17 Women’sNational Team pool player KoriLocksley, a standout at two-time defending WCAC cham-pion Our Lady of Good Counsel,
and that’s been pivotal to hergame, Rauch said. Mose movedfrom the backline to the attack-ing midfielder to allow her tomove around a bit more freelyand use her playmaking skills inall facets of the game. Foster’sathleticism will anchor an over-all speedy and experienced lineof defenders that stands in frontof talented Clemson Universityrecruit Melanie Stiles in goal.Stiles averaged 11 saves pergame a year ago and recordedthree shutouts in a stacked con-ference. Freshman defender/holding midfielder Micah Reidalso adds a ton of playmakingability to the middle.
“We’re definitely on a high,”Rauch said. “We’ve still got ayoung team, just a lot of talentand a lot of kids who are play-ing all year round. It’s a versatilegroup, a lot of kids who are fa-miliar and can handle differentsystems of play. We’re no longerjust seasonal players. The expe-rience everyone picked up lastyear was huge.”
FavoritesDefending Class 4A South
Region champion Eleanor Roo-sevelt and 2012 winner Bowieare the only two teams whichhave made it out of the regionsince 2003 and this fall shouldbe no different. Both lost theirleading scorers; Roosevelt’s2013 Gazette Player of the YearNicole Delabrer (25 goals) isnow a freshman on the Uni-versity of Maryland, BaltimoreCounty women’s soccer team.Without her, the Raiders willpresent an even more balancedfront reliant on good overallteam speed, especially up topwith Emma Thrift and Shey-enne Bonnick, and strength onthe flanks. The Bulldogs returnseven starters, including seniorstriker Anna Huddelston andsophomore Shayla Merene,who was the team’s secondleading scorer as a freshman.
Gwynn Park and FrederickDouglass perennially top thecounty’s 3A/2A/1A League. TheYellow Jackets graduated lead-ing scorer Tashina Cardwell,
who contributed to 63 goals in2013. But her younger sister, afreshman this fall, along withreturning striker Alexis Porter-field, should pick up the slack.Douglass returns three-timeleading scorer Kianna Hart.
ContendersLaurel was the last team
other than the Bowie or Roo-sevelt to win the 4A South in2002. The Spartans remainamong the county’s middle tier.Charles H. Flowers has beenpushing toward the top in re-cent years and though 2013 wasa bit down with a lot of inexperi-ence, the team’s top three scor-ing entities are back in 2014.
DarkhorsesMcNamara’s in-county
WCAC rival, Seton, has also ex-perienced an influx of youngtalent in recent years andshould be more of a factor alongwith the Mustangs this fall.
to patch up the voids and “workwith whatever we had.”
This year, Lloyd said, thesituation is quite similar to thatof 2013.
“We feel in some ways likewe’re in the same spot,” shesaid. “Our plan is a lot the sameand that is to get a lot of courttime and a lot of game-like situ-ations.
“Certainly we drill and prac-tice the basic skills like passingand serving. You’ve got to beable to put that first ball up or
you’re going home.”Less than 10 miles down
the road from the Raiders’ gym,Luanne Smith’s Bowie teamrounds out, along with HighPoint and Roosevelt, what somecounty coaches have called thecounty’s ‘Big 3’ — schools thathave annually competed at thetop of Prince George’s Countyfor the past decade or so.
After leading the Bulldogsto a county title and the regionfinal last season, Smith mustretool a team that lost seven se-niors to graduation. While shereturns three experienced con-tributors from last year’s teamand a promising private schooltransfer, Smith still faces thetask of incorporating and mold-ing seven former junior varsityplayers into the mix.
“We’re young but they doplay a lot of volleyball,” Smithsaid of her team. “I think we’regoing to be competitive. I justneed to see how they’re going torespond to the level of competi-tion we’re going to be playing.”
The 4A path to states willnot come without some chal-lenges along the way for thefavorites. Charles H Flowers,a team that has proved them-selves worthy of mention overthe past three years, shouldpresent some problems for op-posing teams. Coach Jeff Ware’ssquad features five seniors andthree players taller than 6 feet inthe middle, including 6-foot-4sophomore Christina Nance,who Ware called, “a coach’sdream.”
“If we figure out our setting,we can make a run into states,”Ware said.
In the 3A/2A/1A League,Selina Smith’s Crossland teamis looking to take the next step,coming off the program’s mostsuccessful season ever. Smithreturns a core group of girls fromlast year’s team that went unde-feated en route to the 3A/2A/1Atitle, and expects much of thesame again this year.
“We’re looking to get backto the same level. There’s nodoubt,” Smith said. “The waythey’re training and the waythey’re conditioning, we are go-ing to take it back to that level.”
VOLLEYBALLContinued from Page B-1
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Bishop McNamara High School girls soccer player Melanie Stiles practices Tuesday at Walker Mill Regional Park in District Heights.
THE GAZETTEPage B-2 Thursday, August 28, 2014 bo
1935
073
n Running backs lead Panthers tovictory against Silver Oak
BY PRINCE J. GRIMESSTAFF WRITER
It was the perfect drive to run time off theclock and seal a 34-6 opening win for the St.Vincent Pallotti High School football teamagainst Silver Oak Academy Friday night atTaneytown Memorial Park.
Twin running backs Jaret and James Pat-terson took turns carrying the ball and Jamescapped a 65-yard drive late in the fourthquarter with a 25-yard touchdown run thatgave Pallotti a 28-6 lead.
The run was very reminiscent of the firstpoints scored of the game by his brotherearly in the second quarter.
At that point in the game, 34 points maynot have been imaginable.
Perhaps it was the nerves of playing thefirst football game of the season, but the firsthalf of the contest was sloppy for both teams.
Both offenses struggled to hold on to theball, exchanging fumbles in a scoreless firstquarter, including one fumble by Jaret Pat-terson.
“We didn’t have no real rhythm offen-sively,” Pallotti coach Rick Peacock said. “Ithink we had three possessions in the firsthalf. We fumbled the ball on the first one. Soit’s just getting used to it, getting in a flow.Second half, we got more into a rhythm.I even got into better rhythm calling theplays.”
Pallotti’s defense made the first big playof the game early in the second quarter whenDemitri McCray-Buggs sacked Silver Oakquarterback Tyquan King to force a puntearly.
On the ensuing possession, Jaret Patter-son took the ball from quarterback MasonClark and ran up the middle, breaking sev-eral tackles on his way to a 45-yard touch-
down to put Pallotti ahead 7-0.“I just seen the hole and just was driving
my feet and kept going.” Jaret Patterson said.The Panthers defense then continued its
strong play, stopping Silver Oak from punch-ing the ball into the end zone from inside the10 twice before the half ended.
Jaret Patterson went back to work in thethird quarter, taking a screen pass from Clark19 yards for a touchdown to put the Panthersup 13-0.
Following an interception on the nextpossession, Clark appeared to get into arhythm, completing deep passes to McCray-Buggs and Newt Davis to set Pallotti up in-side Silver Oak’s 3.
James Patterson scored his first of twotouchdowns on a carry from there. He saidhis brother’s running motivated him.
“It does [motivate me] because he reallysupports me and wants me to do my best. Hepushes me everyday to go harder everyday,”James Patterson said.
Silver Oak would get a 50-yard passcompletion from quarterback Tyquan Kingto Twyan Cooper on its next possesion to seta 2-yard touchdown run.
Peacock then gave Silver Oak a heavydose of the Patterson twins to run down theclock.
“My one-two punch,” Peacock saidabout his sophomore running backs. “Theyjust run hard. And the line did a great jobof — in order to get through the line, there’sholes there. But there’s guys coming, takingshots at them and they keep grinding.”
Twins lead Pallotti to opening winTHE GAZETTEThursday, August 28, 2014 bo Page B-3
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
St. Vincent Pallotti High School’s Chase Young tackles a Silver Oak Academy player during Friday’sfootball game in Taneytown. Pallotti won 34-6.
n County schools playout-of-state to increaseexposure of county football
BY PRINCE J. GRIMES
STAFF WRITER
The football teams at HenryA. Wise and Bowie high schoolsare scheduled to open their re-spective seasons in New Jerseythis year in the fifth annual I-95Kickoff Classic.
Bowie meets Hackensack(N.J.) at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 6.Then, following a game betweenLa Salle (Pa.) and Bergen Catholic(N.J.) at 4:30, Wise takes on St. Pe-ter’s Prep (N.J.) at 7:30 p.m..
Bowie resident Tony Ken-nedy created the Kickoff Classicin 2010 as a way for high schoolathletes to garner greater nationalexposure.
“Everybody [in Maryland] isreally so entrenched or worriedabout who’s state champion,”Kennedy said “In history — highschool today — you need to playthe best who are in the region.Because it’s exposure. St. Peter’sPrep has three guys on their teamthat’s ranked in the top 150 inthe entire nation. Now, there willbe so many films on those guys.Imagine the guys that are acrossfrom those three guys, played thegames of their lives. They havejust paid themselves for the restof their life.”
So college recruiters whowatch film to check out the toptalent at St. Peter’s Prep will alsosee Wise’s top players in action.Kennedy said a great perfor-mance in these games can resultin multiple scholarship offers forsome of the participating athletes.
Wise coach DaLawn Parrishagreed, and didn’t need more in-centive than exposure to acceptthe invitation.
“The incentive is to playa team that is well respectedthroughouot the country. And toget that experience to play againstsomebody of that caliber,” Parrishsaid. “We’ve always been striving
to achieve that type of success,but due to the state of Maryland’srules, and public schools beingunable to really travel outsidethe state like we really want to,like the private schools, you don’thave that opportunity to reallyprove, really that we can play onthat level.”
Originally, the Kickoff Clas-sic’s intent was to pair the bestpublic and private schools in thestate against each other.
Since the inaugural year how-ever, the event has continued toincrease in popularity, and justlast year Kennedy was able tohold it in New Jersey for the firsttime.
Private-schoool DeMathaCatholic was the only PrinceGeorge’s school to participate lastyear, suffering its only loss of theyear, 42-14 to St. Joseph RegionalHigh School in Montvale, N.J.
This year, the Prince George’sCounty Public Schools AthleticAssociation scheduled an openweek, allowing Wise and Bowieto participate. Bowie’s coach, JaeJackson, said he jumped at theopportunity.
“That was easy [the decisionto participate],” Jackson said. “It’san opportunity for the student-athletes to go out the state and getsome exposure, other than justbeing here in Maryland. It was ablessing to get invited to it. Andso, we jumped on the chance todo that. We’ve never experiencedgoing over night, being some-where, getting up, playing in agame, and being part of a classiclike this.”
“I can tell you right now, ifthe guys at Wise go and put it onthose guys in the top 150, I can tellyou right now, their offers are go-ing to go through the roof. I canguarantee you that. And whatthat does, is that brings attentionto the next person behind them,”Kennedy said. “Right now, nextyear we’re looking to try to getdown to Daytona. Take someteams down to play against someof those Miami teams.”
KEEPING IT BRIEFDeMatha football ranked No. 1DeMatha Catholic High School ranked first
in The Maryland High School Football MediaState Poll released Tuesday. The Stags arecoming off an 11-1 season and won the Wash-ington Catholic Athletic Conference title, theHyattsville school’s first since 2008.
The statewide preseason poll, which hasrun 25 years, is based on votes from sportsreporters across Maryland. Other PrinceGeorge’s County schools ranked in the top 25
include Suitland of District Heights (No. 14),Frederick Douglass of Upper Marlboro (15),Henry A. Wise of Upper Marlboro (16), BishopMcNamara of Forestville (21) and EleanorRoosevelt of Greenbelt (22).
— ERIC GOLDWEIN
Tiafoe plays US Open qualifyingCollege Park teenager Francis Tiafoe, 16,
fell on the second day of the US Open men’s
qualifying tournament to No. 11 seed TatsumaIto last week in New York. After droppingan extended tiebreak, 8-6, to lose the firstset, Tiafoe won the second, 6-4, against the26-year-old from Japan before bowing outin a match that lasted nearly two-and-a-halfhours. Ito qualified for the main draw and wasscheduled to play American Steve Johnson inWednesday’s first round match. Tiafoe is cur-rently ranked No. 9 in the International TennisFederation junior world rankings.
— JENNIFER BEEKMAN
Arts & Entertainmentwww.gazette.net | Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014 | Page B-4
n Playwright’s lifeput on stage by PGLT
BY KIRSTY GROFF
STAFF WRITER
Travel back in time to late 1930s Brook-lyn and discover what life was like forplaywright Neil Simon during the PrinceGeorge’s Little Theatre production of“Brighton Beach Memoirs.”
The first of three semi-autobiograph-ical plays Simon wrote, the piece coversthe ups and downs of the Jerome family,including the teenaged protagonist based
on the playwright himself, Eugene MorrisJerome.
Eugene is 14, with two cousins and an
older brother also in their teens. For a playwith a relatively small cast, the amount ofroles available for teen actors in “BrightonBeach Memoirs” stuck out to director KenKienas when he decided to pitch the play tothe company.
“I really wanted to put on something forour group that had roles for young peoplein it,” he said. “It’s hard to find those kindsof plays. There are plays kids do for otherkids, there are walk-on parts and musicalnumbers, but it’s hard to find strong char-acter roles for youths and this is one playthat does have that.”
Teens on the beachTOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Casey Baum plays Eugene during a rehearsal for “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”
n Group show lets thesculptors stand out
The Glenview Mansion ArtGallery, which is comprised ofthe upstairs rooms of this gemof a historical house set in ex-quisitely manicured parkland, ishosting a large group show thismonth.
Pastel artist Patricia Hilton isrepresented by a large numberof small scale works, primarilylandscapes, in a loosely realiststyle. Occasionally charming,they are generally uninspiring. Agroup of digital photographs byRichard Weiblinger is consider-ably more interesting and var-ied. The hot colored close upsof “glowing” flowers unfortu-nately border on the kitschy, buta photo of “Paper Rolls,” tintedpink and resembling a close up
of human skin, was strangelycompelling. There are a numberof nautical/maritime scenes.Among these “Pipe Jetty” is anevocative and beautifully com-posed view out to the water withmisty sky, sand and ocean sprayin softened colors. The brightgreen of the beams attached tothe pipe on the beach standsout without looking artificial.The artist — who is a medicalresearcher by day — writes thathe wants to create images with“chromatic strength,” and thesephotos clearly show that intent.
Dominating the galleries,however, is sculpture in differ-
‘Friday Group’ unveilsworks at Rockville’sGlenview Mansion
PICTURE BY RICHARD WEIBLINGER
Richard Weiblinger’s photograph “Pipe Jetty” demonstrates the artist’s keeneye for composition and color control.
ON VIEWB Y C L A U D I A R O U S S E A U
BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRSn When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and
Sept. 5, 6, 12 and 13; 2 p.m. Sundayand Sept. 7
n Where: Bowie Playhouse,16500 White Marsh Park Drive, Bowie
n Tickets: $13-$20
n More information: pglt.org;301-937-7458
See BEACH, Page B-5
See SCULPTORS, Page B-5
1933468
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publication• Quarter page display ads in The Gazette• Gazette.Net homepage and local pages• Social Networking Sites (Facebook, Twitter)• Web version on Gazette.Net homepages
Includes Internetand ROP Ad
Publication Date: October 9th
Gazette Health 2014Gazette Health 2014
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Special Issue featuring
Women’s Healthin partnership with local hospitals
PLEASE CALLCHAUKA REID
AT (240) 473-75881884997
September 13, 2014Blue Magic with Richard Pratt$35/$30 general admission senior/students
10701 Livingston RoadFt. Washington, MD 20744
October 18, 2014Bill Pinkney’s Original Drifters$35/$30 general admission seniors/students
November 15, 2014Shadz of Soul
$20/$15 general admission seniors/students
September 27, 2014Motown Review featuring
The Brencore All-Stars$25/$20 general admission seniors/students
THE GAZETTEThursday, August 28, 2014 bo Page B-5
For a free listing, please submitcomplete information to
[email protected] at least 10days in advance of desired publica-tion date. High-resolution color im-ages (500KB minimum) in jpg formatshould be submitted when available.
THEATER & STAGEBowie Community Theatre, “The Mur-
der Room,” Oct. 31 through Nov. 15, callfor prices, times, Bowie Playhouse, 16500White Marsh Park Dr., Bowie, 301-805-0219, bctheatre.com.
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center,University of Maryland, College Park, cla-ricesmithcenter.umd.edu.
Hard Bargain Players, “BUG,” Sept.5-20, 8 p.m., call for prices, Theater in theWoods, 2001 Bryan Point Road, Accokeek,240-766-8830, hbplayers.org.
Harmony Hall Regional Center, Blue
Magic, Sept. 13, 8 p.m., 10701 LivingstonRoad, Fort Washington, 301-203-6070,arts.pgparks.com.
Greenbelt Arts Center, “The Heroes’Tale,” Sept. 5-13, 8 p.m., call for prices,times, Greenbelt Arts Center, 123 Center-way, Greenbelt, 301-441-8770, greenbel-tartscenter.org.
Joe’s Movement Emporium, 3309 Bun-ker Hill Road, Mount Rainier, 301-699-1819, joesmovement.org.
Laurel Mill Playhouse, “The Mouse-trap,” Sept. 5-28, call for ticket prices,times, Laurel Mill Playhouse, 508 Main St.,Laurel, 301-452-2557, laurelmillplayhouse.org.
Prince George’s Little Theatre, “Brigh-ton Beach Memoirs,” Aug. 29 to Sept. 13,call for tickets and show times, BowiePlayhouse, 16500 White Marsh Park Drive,Bowie, 301-937-7458, pglt.org.
Publick Playhouse, Tiny Tots Thurs-day: Found Instruments Workshop, Sept.9, 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.; PlatinumSeries for Seniors 60 and Better: Movie -“12 Years a Slave,” Sept. 16, 11 a.m., 5445Landover Road, Cheverly, 301-277-1710,
arts.pgparks.com.2nd Star Productions, “Children of
Eden,” opening Sept. 26, Bowie Playhouse,16500 White Marsh Park Drive, Bowie, callfor prices, times, 410-757-5700, 301-832-4819, 2ndstarproductions.com.
Tantallon Community Players, “August:Osage County,” Coming in September/October 2014, Harmony Hall RegionalCenter, 10701 Livingston Road, FortWashington, 301-262-5201, tantallon-stage.com.
Venus Theatre, “We Are Samurai,”coming in September, 21 C Street, Laurel.venustheatre.org.
NIGHTLIFENew Deal Café, Mid-Day Melodies
with Amy C Kraft, noon to 2 p.m., Aug. 28;SAW Open Mic, 7 to 9 p.m., Aug. 28; JohnGuernsey, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Aug. 29; Karika-tura, 8 to 11 p.m., Aug. 29; Bruce Kitt, 4 to6 p.m., Aug. 30; John Guernsey, 6:30 to 8p.m., Aug. 30; Kevin Robinson and KERQ,8 to 11 p.m., Aug. 30; Deaf Brunch, 10:30a.m. to noon, Aug. 31; The O Street Band, 5
to 8 p.m., Aug. 31; The New Old Jamboree,7 to 9 p.m., Sept. 2, 113 Centerway Road,301-474-5642, newdealcafe.com.
Old Bowie Town Grill, WednesdayNight Classic Jam, 8 p.m. every Wednes-day, sign-ups start at 7:30 p.m., 8604Chestnut Ave., Bowie, 301-464-8800, old-bowietowngrille.com.
OUTDOORSDinosaur Park, Dinosaur Park pro-
grams, noon to 4 p.m. first and thirdSaturdays, join paleontologists and vol-unteers in interpreting fossil deposits,13200 block Mid-Atlantic Blvd., Laurel,301-627-7755.
Mount Rainier Nature Center, ToddlerTime: hands-on treasures, crafts, storiesand soft play, 11 a.m. to noon Thursdays,age 5 and younger free, 4701 31st Place,Mount Rainier, 301-927-2163.
Prince George’s Audubon Society,Bird Walks, 7:30 a.m. first Saturdays,Fran Uhler Natural Area, meets at end ofLemon Bridge Road, north of Bowie StateUniversity, option to bird nearby WB&A
Trail afterward; 7:30 a.m. third Saturdays,Governor Bridge Natural Area, GovernorBridge Road, Bowie, meet in parking lot;for migrating and resident woodland andfield birds, and waterfowl. For beginnersand experts. Waterproof footwear andbinoculars suggested. Free. 410-765-6482.
ET CETERACollege Park Aviation Museum, Peter
Pan Club, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. second andfourth Thursdays of every month, activi-ties for pre-schoolers, $4, $3 seniors, $2ages 2 to 18; Afternoon Aviators, 2 to 4:30p.m. Fridays, hands-on aviation-themedactivities for age 5 and up, $4, $3 seniors,$2 ages 2 to 18, events free with admission,1985 Cpl. Frank Scott Drive, College Park,301-864-6029, collegeparkaviationmu-seum.com.
Women’s Chamber Choir Auditions,by appointment for the concert season ofwomen’s chamber choir Voix de Femmes,7:45 to 9:30 p.m. Thursdays, 402 ComptonAve., Laurel, 301-520-8921, [email protected].
IN THE ARTS
Throughout the play, Eugene hasto balance the strife involved in grow-ing up with family obstacles, such ashis father’s heart attack and his broth-er’s gambling habit. As the voice of thewriter, Eugene often breaks the fourthwall, engaging the audience in the piecethat inspires laughter alongside tears.
Casey Baum, who plays the teenageboy, is no stranger to the issues Eugeneis going through; a teenager himself, hehas worked in his own thoughts andreactions with his understanding of thecharacter, making for a performancewith depth and realism.
This is Baum’s first show off theschool stage, and while the schedule isdifferent than he is used to Baum hasbeen able to use the timing to his ad-vantage preparing for his role.
“It was difficult at first to get into themode of actually doing a show becausewe were only rehearsing two or threetimes a week,” Baum said. “I definitelyenjoyed it because I got a really longtime to discover my character on stageand off. Even when I do other produc-tions with less preparation time, I canstill take time to discover who that char-acter is and create someone interestingto watch.”
Eugene faces conflict throughoutthe play within the family between hisbrother, cousins, mother and aunt.Through it all, he and his relativesmaintain a sense of humor to help themthrough life’s rough times — a copingmechanism many families use whenfacing tough situations.
“On the surface he kind of has thiswhole comical persona, but deep downhe’s struggling with the reality of grow-ing up,” Baum said. “I think the playrepresents that life can have these sidesof light and fun but also the duller, moredepressing side. He takes all these situa-tions and turns them for the better.”
His mother is played by NoraZanger, who is no stranger to the play.Her own mother brought her to see theshow in 1983, and Simon’s family back-ground is very similar to that of her andher mother when growing up. Zanger’s
mother passed away two years ago, andtaking on the mother role in the produc-tion that meant so much to them bothhas helped connect her further to therole.
“I’m doing this as much for mypleasure as much as in her honor,”she said. “I think she would have reallyloved to see this show. She related toit even more so than I did. This showsreal Jewish life and struggles but it alsoshows real people and real situations,and I think this is the kind of show thattouches people deeply.”
The cast rehearses and performstogether as a family each night, and assuch have become close-knit from au-ditions leading to opening night. Thecomfort the cast members have witheach other shows through their perfor-mances, making for a production abouta family the audience can believe.
“Everyone involved has given morethan 100 percent in every way,” she said.“It’s been such a great experience, itmakes my travel from northern Virginiain horrendous traffic tolerable becauseI know I’m going to something I enjoy.”
“I’ve been tickled with how muchall of them have jumped into it,” Kienasadded. “You never know exactly what
you’re going to get with teenagers, andthe group I’ve got, some I think havemore experience than older members ofthe cast and I’m amazed at how quicklythey pick up things.”
All in all, “Brighton Beach Mem-oirs” is a play about the bonds of familyand how they can weather any storm.Even if members of the audience didn’tgrow up in a Jewish family in Brooklynin 1937 – or any time, for that matter –aspects of Simon’s adolescence shouldresonate.
“Neil Simon is really writing a lotabout family and how family interacts,and that they’re there for each other,”Kienas said, “and I hope they comeaway and look at their family and maybesmile a bit about some of the stuff theydo and see how they’re all there to seeeach other through the hard times.”
“I would love for people to look atthese characters, and maybe they won’tall be Jewish families, but maybe theycan find a parallel to their lives,” Zangeradded. “Sometimes difficult things hap-pen, but I hope they see how importantit is to stick together and work togetheras a family.”
ferent media (and quality) by fivemembers of The Friday Group — aninformal association of sculptorsfrom the area who have been regu-larly meeting at an advanced sculp-ture studio offered at MontgomeryCollege in Silver Spring. This is not ahomogeneous group of artists, andtheir backgrounds vary greatly, butthe work does have a connected feelboth in approach and in content.With a few exceptions, almost allthe work has an organic character ofsome kind; rooted in natural form butnot necessarily descriptive of it.
Among the five is Jackie Mar-tin who contributed three works indifferent media to the exhibit. Themost memorable is an intriguingpiece titled “Fetal.” Two leaf or pod-like forms made of copper face eachother. A complex network of copperwire fills the space between them,culminating in curves at the top al-most like waves. The wire comes outfrom along the top of the leaf formsand is pressed to their exteriors.While the artist has said that she wasinspired by a dogwood seedpod, thetitle suggests seeing these wires asveins in the womb, the curving formsalluding to the protection of the fetusinside. Martin’s carved soapstonesculpture, “The Days that Are NoMore” (a quotation from a Tennysonpoem), also appears to allude to themother/child relationship, and theinevitable passage of time. A head onone end is transformed into a wingon one side, a hand on the other. Atthe end is the face of an infant. Whilethe symbolism here is to some extentdependent on reading the title, thework has a powerful effect, and al-though small (only 12 inches wide),has a monumental character.
A group of sleekly elegant carvedmarble pieces by Jan Acton all havethe organic sensibility mentionedabove. “Gesture I” stands like a stemor a leaf in grey-veined white marble,while “Red Vein” seems to configureitself into a swan-like form, with a
fanned tail. “Curled Up” is a simpleshell or pod-like form that also resem-bles a fetal shape, and in pink tonedmarble makes an interesting compar-ison to Martin’s copper womb.
George Wedberg’s works are inwood, with forms that appear to refer-ence plants more specifically. My fa-vorite was “Grotto” in which curvingelements intertwine in a way reminis-cent of tree branches emerging fromthe trunk. Along one outside edge theartist has made tiny droplet-shapedmarks, possibly by burning, that cre-ate an interesting texture. “The Gath-ering” is a small work featuring threeleaf forms, each set on a steppedbase. The insides of the leaves are notsanded, and the contrast of texturesadds a tactile dimension to the work.The smooth surfaces of “Wave Form”add to the rhythm of its shapes.
Gordon Lyon and Paul Steinkoe-nig are more experimental, and workin more than single media. Still, Ly-on’s “Shell with Cladding” and hisother shell-like welded steel piecesshare with most of the works of thisgroup, an organic formal basis. Lyonalso works in a semi-abstract figura-tive style (“Torso,” welded sheet steel)as well as in modernist assemblagesof welded found metal as in his “Mon-itor,” which (apart from the brightblue base), was his most interestingpiece in this show. Steinkoenig iseven more disparate in his approach.His “Something Bad,” that fairly oc-cupies an entire room, was genuinelyunsettling. A heavy chain hangs fromthe center of a huge frame of burntbeams put together with enormousscrews—the whole looking like theremains of some horrible incident in-volving fire and hangings. The sameartist created the smooth and ratherintellectual “Pair of Jacks: Cubic Jackand Evolving Jack” made of highlysanded and mechanically cut naturalwood. On the other hand, his weldedand painted metal “Sphere” standson spindly metal legs. While it mightevoke an armillary sphere, the effectis more sci-fi than astronomical. Ifit also looks a bit like a giant spider,there’s more humor here than horrorfilm.
SCULPTORSContinued from Page B-4
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
The cast of Brighton Beach Memoirs (from left) Jill Goodrich (Blanche), Annalie Ellis (Laurie),Mike Culhone (Stanley), Nora Zanger (Kate), Casey Baum (Eugene), Sophie Speciale (Nora),and Steve Feder (Jack) are pictured at the New Carrollton Municipal Center.
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THE GAZETTEPage B-6 Thursday, August 28, 2014 bo
There is beauty to be found in just aboutanything. It’s true! Old buildings, smallpatches of land — beauty is in the eye of thebeholder. When the beholder is a talented art-ist, the beauty tends to go a little farther.
Artist Brett Busang’s current show, whichis on display now at Joe’s Movement Empo-rium in Mt. Rainier, tells the story of neigh-borhoods in Gaithersbug, Brentwood/Mt.Rainier and Brookland as they’re all in transi-tion.
Specializing in realism, Busang has hadhis work exhibited in New York, Syracuseand Greenville, N.C. His work also adorns thewalls of such corporations as Media General,Capital One and Krispy Kreme, to name a few.His writing has appeared in American Artist,The Artist’s Magazine, New York Press andNew York Newsday as well.
In his current exhibit, Busang reflects onthe working class roots of the three neighbor-hoods while reflecting on the growth of each.
For more information, visitjoesmovement.org or call 301-699-1819.
The real world
PHOTO BY BRETT BUSANG
The work of artist Brett Busang is now on display at Joe’sMovement Emporium in Mt. Rainier.
The folks at Cirque du Soleil definitelyknow how to put on a show. The talent ofeach performer, as they dance, twist andeven sometimes fly, is quite easy to see.
One of the latest Cirque du Soleil per-formances, “Amaluna,” is running nowthrough Sept. 21 at the National Harbor.
The show is a bit of a first for Cirquedu Soleil in that it’s a female-centriccast. The story takes place on an islandgoverned by goddesses and the queenProspera. A storm washes a group of menonto the island, and love begins to growbetween one of the men and the queen’sdaughter, Miranda. Of course, with anygood love story, obstacles are thrown atthem, which they must overcome in orderto be happy.
All of this, of course, is told in a veryCirque Du Soleil fashion, meaning acro-batics, dance, powerful music and more.
Ticket prices for the show vary, so it’sbest to visit nationalharbor.com orcirquedusoleil.com for more information.
To the moon and back
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Cirque Du Soleil performer Brittany Urban practiceson the uneven bars during an afternoon rehearsalat National Harbor.
Deb Randall and the folks atthe Venus Theatre in Laurel puton powerful shows season afterseason that speak of the courageand strength of woman and chil-dren. Their latest show, “We AreSamurai,” is no different.
Written by Daria Miyuki Mari-nelli, the play is the 49th show tobe produced at the Venus The-atre. And it’s a doozy of a show,too.
The play will take place in fivedifferent locations in and aroundthe theater. It’s up to the audience
to figure out where they want togo and what they want to watch.Scenes happen simultaneously.
Marinelli is a descendant ofthe samurai and was inspired byher family to look into the ideaof honor and revenge, which areboth prominent in the show.
The show opens Sept. 4 andruns Thursdays, Fridays and Sat-urdays at 8 p.m. and Saturdaysand Sundays at 3 p.m. throughthe month of September. Ticketsfor the show are $20. For more in-formation, visit venustheatre.org.
Way of the Samurai
PHOTO BY ADAM S. LOWE PHOTOGRAPHY
Members of the cast of “We Are Samurai” rehearse at the Venus Theatre in Laurel.
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GAITHERSBURG, MD – August 21, 2014 Toyota Field Technical Operations presented three Fitzgerald Auto Mall Lakeforest Toyotaassociates with the Challenge Coin in recognition of their Outstanding Product Quality Support. Their contributions have enabled Toyota ProductEngineers, vehicle assembly plants, suppliers, designers, and future product developers to improve the quality of Toyota products and services forFitzMall customers. The recipients were Jim Leishear, Rob Gorman, and Ed McCurry.
G560826
The three Challenge Coins awarded to theFitzMall associates are part of only 225 thatwill be distributed across all Scion, Toyota, andLexus dealers this year. “We hope you displaythe coin in a conspicuous place and explain toothers how your shared passion for ProductQuality sets you apart,” said Aaron M.Domuracki, Toyota Field Product Engineer.“Thank you for your ongoing support of ourmission: We are unified in our passion toprovide the finest ownership experience.”
Jack Fitzgerald, Chairman and CEO ofFitzgerald Auto Malls, personally thankedthe award recipients for their continueddedication to great customer service. “Jim,Rob, and Ed do more than just supportToyota. They understand that taking care ofthe customer is our first priority, and I amgrateful for that. It is great to see Toyotarecognizing their efforts,” said Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald Auto Malls represents twentybrands of vehicles and is known for theirposted price, no hassle, no haggle salesexperience, and FitzWay Service. JackFitzgerald started the business in 1966.Fitzgerald Lakeforest Toyota inGaithersburg served more than 60,000customers last year.
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AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS TOYOTA MEDALFitzgerald Lakeforest Toyota staff awarded the Outstanding Product Quality Support Award
From left to right: Aaron Domuracki (Toyota field product engineer), Jim Leishear (Fitzgerald Auto MallSenior Technician), Rob Gorman (Fitzgerald Auto Mall Senior Technician), Ed McCurry (Fitzgerald AutoMall Toyota Service Director), Gil Briggs (Fitzgerald Auto Mall Fixed Operations Manager)
Page B-10 Thursday, August 28, 2014 bo
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