By Pam Schipper

T he Kentlands Downtown Partnership (KDP) hosted a community forum discus-

sion April 25 at the new Kentlands Lodge rental facility. According to Joe Pritchard, KDP president, the purpose of the forum was to advocate for downtown and bring stakeholders together to form partnerships and synergies.

Joe Allen, KDP Board-At-Large member, spoke of the

unique strengths and challeng-es of Kentlands—a commercial district made up of three distinct groups: Market Square owned by Beatty Management Com-pany, Kentlands Square I and II and Kentlands Place owned by Saul Centers, and the Main Street live/work units owned by indi-vidual landlords. He spoke of the “bones of an active and strong community” built on 25 years’ of new urbanist thinking, and in-

Kentlands Day Volunteers, Organizers Set for Big Day

By Gina Gallucci-White

W inter lasted far too long, but it’s time to bust out the shorts, tank tops and

sandals to honor our community. Organizers and volunteers have been busy the past several weeks putting the finishing touches on the annual Kentlands Day celebra-tion set for May 2.

“Kentlands Day is the most widely attended (annual) event in Gaithersburg,” said Andrew Ross, event organizer. When it first be-gan seven years ago, “we wanted to throw a really fun event that gets people out talking to their neigh-bors again, have lots of free stuff to do and also be a way for business owners to connect with residents and celebrate with them.”

Attendance has grown steadily each event with last year’s total es-

timated at 25,000. If you plan on going, parking may be an issue so why not bike there? Bike Gaith-ersburg has partnered with Two Wheel Valet to offer free bicycle valet services at the festival for the

Photo | Sally Alt

Last year’s pizza eating contest was meravi-gliosoa for participants and spectators! Look for some fun food eating contests at the 7th annual Kentlands Day on May 2.

Vol. 12, No. 9 May 1, 2015www.towncourier.com

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Photo | Mac Kennedy

Business owners (left to right, front) Lewis tipograph of tipo’s toy Box, robyn Gault of fleet feet sports Gaithersburg, (left to right, back) eric Pellicci of foundry fitness, chris Gault of fleet feet sports Gaithersburg, andrew Meyrowitz of the Wine Harvest, rami Bakri of Perfectly Pressed, and andrew ross of Great Kids events and force teen job board assembled welcome baskets for new residents at the Wine Harvest on april 20.

Kentlands Business Owners Give Welcome Baskets

A s part of their new “Make a Difference! Shop Small & Local” campaign, Kentlands busi-ness owners came together at The Wine Harvest April 20 to create some 40 welcome baskets for new residents in the 20878 zip code. Business owners chipped in for basket

purchase and contributed special offers and items to the baskets. The Wine Harvest took the lead in basket assembly, as gift baskets are something of an art form at the wine specialty shop, café and bar. Of course, basket assembly at The Wine Harvest included a Happy Hour! The welcome baskets were hand-delivered by Rami Bakri, co-owner of Perfectly Pressed, the last week in April.

Kentlands business owners are invited to a networking lunch at The Wine Harvest, 114 Mar-ket St., on Thursday, May 7, 12-1:30 p.m. Please email Andrew Ross, amross@gmail.com, to be added to the Kentlands Business Owners contact list.

Community Discusses Business District Revitalization

Bikeways Master Plan to Start with CCT Alignment

By Ellyn Wexler

A n April 20 Bikeways Master Plan Community Meeting focused on the area around

the Life Science Center Loop of the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT), the proposed 15-mile bus rapid transit line from Shady Grove to Clarksburg. Planners are de-signing the loop, a 3.5-mile off-road and multi-use recreation and transportation path that will run along existing streets, includ-ing the CCT alignment.

David Anspacher, planner co-ordinator at the Maryland-Na-tional Capital Park and Plan-ning Commission, outlined the timeline and the studies being undertaken toward creating that specific section of a high-quality bicycle network that will enable

access from neighborhoods to the CCT stations, and ensure “coor-dination and compatibility” with the loop.

The planning department, An-spacher said, started working on a comprehensive update to the 1978 Master Plan of Bikeways on April 1. The 2005 County-wide Bikeways Functional Master Plan was the last major overhaul. This update also will coordinate with the recommendations of the Great Seneca Science Corridor Implementation Advisory Com-mittee, established by the plan-ning board in 2011.

Anspacher introduced Casey Anderson, Montgomery County Planning Board chairman, who emphasized that the goal, to be

n BiKeWays Continued on page 11

Photo | Christine Darton-Henrichsen, Potshots by Christine

Hosted by the Kentlands Downtown Partnership, a community forum on saturday, april 25 drew approximately 30 stakeholders.

Page 2 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 3

Proposed Town Courier/Town Crier Merger Discussed

By Pam Schipper

A t a Kentlands Citizens As-sembly Town Hall Meeting on April 22, the KCA Board,

Town Courier publisher Diane Dor-ney and the community convened to discuss how a merger between the two publications might work, as well as the pros and cons of such a deal. A decision on whether or not to go for-ward with consideration of the merg-er should be made at the KCA Board meeting on Wednesday, April 29.

After a welcome and introduction by KCA Chair Chris Campbell, for-mer KCA President Neil Harris gave some background on the proposal that he initially brought before the Board because he perceived a duplication of effort between the two publications. In a series of meetings, Harris, KCA Vice Chair Ty Hardaway, KCA Trust-ee Rob Garretson, Diane Dorney and staff considered how such a merger might work. Publishing Town Crier official news on two pages in each issue of The Town Courier emerged as a viable proposal; the board has re-quested that they not be charged for this space.

According to a letter distributed by the KCA Board and president on April 26, the Town Crier has had a revenue shortfall ranging from $3,300 to $24,000 for the past several years. This does not include staff time to produce the paper. Of four fulltime staff members at the Kentlands Club-house, approximately half of one staff member’s time is spent producing the Town Crier.

Town Courier publisher Diane Dorney followed with a presentation on the history of Kentlands com-munications, something that she is well-versed in as one of the original residents of Kentlands, the first edi-tor of the Town Crier in its newspa-per format (in 1996), the first KCA president, and publisher and editor of

The Town Courier since May 2003. Under her direction, the Town Crier covered both official KCA announce-ments as well as hard news that affect-ed the community—all editorial con-tent was approved by the KCA Board before it was published.

In April 2003, Dorney resigned her position as Town Crier editor to start The Town Courier, which she has published for 12 years. The Town Courier covers community news in Kentlands, Lakelands, Quince Or-chard Park and several other neigh-borhoods connected to Kentlands downtown. In total, Dorney has edit-ed and/or published Kentlands com-munity news for almost 20 years.

Dorney said that her reason for bringing this proposal before the KCA Board is financial. Competing with the Town Crier, which is subsi-dized in part by the KCA, for limited local advertising dollars has made it difficult for a small business owned and run newspaper to survive.

Dorney is open to giving the KCA space in the Courier or has suggested an alternative—that the KCA Board publish the Town Crier without ad-vertising, which would be a less ex-pensive option for the KCA than the current 24-page Crier.

A community discussion followed

with residents raising concerns and offering support. Mary Fehlig of the Fehlig Group spoke on behalf of small businesses, saying that a merger would help small businesses that are struggling to stretch their ad dollars to include social media and website maintenance. These businesses would no longer have to choose between ad-vertising in the Town Crier or The Town Courier.

Al and Julia Wurglitz argued that the Town Crier is an amenity, a cost of communicating with residents. Al Wurglitz advocated for retaining ads in the Crier, and said that the Town Crier enjoys “a patina of trust because it is through the KCA.”

KCA Vice Chair Ty Hardaway said that any agreement should be “mu-tually opportunistic” and make sense for all parties involved.

Harris shared that if the KCA and Town Courier entered into an agree-ment that did not work out, the KCA could resume printing the Town Cri-er. He also noted that he thinks Dor-ney “is a better torch bearer for the new urbanism than we have been in our paper.”

You can watch the April 22 Town Hall Meeting online at kentlandsusa.com/home.asp.

Compiled by Pam Schipper

Special Adoption Event Coming May 2 at AWLMC

On Saturday, May 2, noon to 4 p.m., the An-imal Welfare League of Montgomery County (AWLMC), located at 12 Park Ave. in Gaithers-burg’s Olde Towne, will hold a “Love Is Special” adoption event and open house to encourage peo-ple to bring home older cats or those with special needs. For a $5 adoption fee, visitors to the shelter can give special and ma-ture cats eight years of age and older a forever home.

“Think of a pet that is a little calmer, doesn’t climb the curtains or race around like an adorable, typical kitten ... but will love you unconditionally,” said Posey Fox, AWLMC president. “An older cat can be easier to deal with, that’s one of the benefits of adopting a senior cat. Some people worry that a senior pet comes with problems, but according to many adopters, there are typically advantages.”

One of AWLMC’s special cats is Snowball, an eight-year-old feline who was returned to the shelter after being adopted as a kitten. Recently diagnosed with ret-inal degeneration, a congenital condition, Snowball is blind, but that doesn’t hold her back from enjoying life. “Snowball is filled with love and can’t get enough of being held, petted and brushed,” said Jeanne App, for-mer president and AWLMC Board member. “She gets around well—she just needs a quiet home where there is consistency in where her things are, like her food bowl. She has no hesitation jumping up and down from her cat tree. She just has to know where it is.” For more infor-mation on AWLMC and the “Love is Special” adoption event, visit www.awlmc.org.

New CCT Alignment May Pose Less Impact for Washingtonian Woods

At an April 20 Mayor and City Council meeting, Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) Project Man-ager Rick Kiegel presented an update on the 9-mile Phase 1 of the bus rapid transit project, the Corridor Cit-ies Transitway that is scheduled to begin service in 2021. The MTA is currently working on a 30 percent-design for Phase 1, to be completed in fall 2015. Public hearings are tentatively scheduled for September 2015.

According to the new design plans, Washingtonian Woods may get some relief with CCT alignment along Great Seneca Highway shifted from a 30-foot setback from curb to a reduced 8-foot setback from curb. Storm-water management would be achieved underground and with a small retaining wall, Kiegel explained. Noise walls may be installed to shield Upshire Circle and Hill-side Lake Terrace.

Kiegel admitted that mitigating impact to the Vistas/Washingtonian Woods right turn lane on Great Seneca Highway was not as effective.

Washingtonian Woods resident Lisa Cline, who has led an organized effort by residents to improve local alignment plans for the CCT, thanked Kiegel for his efforts but reiterated the group’s support of Option 4, which uses only Great Seneca Highway to service the Belward Farm area, bypassing Muddy Branch Road. With the current CCT route along Great Seneca and Muddy Branch, “Washingtonian Woods is crushed on both sides,” she said.

Cline and other residents also questioned the need for the CCT, as its route mirrors Ride On and is redundant, they said.

ArounD Town

n arounD toWn Continued on page 10

Photo | Tom Marchessault

the Kentlands firehouse, built 1959-1961 and extensively renovated by Jackie and alexander Krakovsky in 2013-2014, is just one of the six unique and beautiful homes on the 2015 Kentlands Home & Garden tour saturday, May 9, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tickets are $25 through May 3, and $30 after that date or at the door. Visit www.kentlands.org/house-tour for more information.

Photo | Mac Kennedy

the proposed merging of the town crier with the town courier was discussed at a Kentlands citizens assembly Meeting Wednesday night, april 22.

Photo | Submitted

eight-year-old snowball is one of the cats available for adoption May 2 at the animal Welfare League of Montgomery county.

Page 4 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

Police Talk Drug Disposal, Graduation and Prom Safety Tips

I f you want a safe way to get rid of unused, expired and unwanted medication, the Gaithersburg Police Department (GPD)

will be participating in a free Prescription Drug Take Back event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 2 at the department’s station at 14 Fulks Corner Ave.

Donations may be done anonymous-ly with no questions asked. While liquids and/or syringes will not be accepted, other drugs such as over-the-counter, vitamins, prescriptions, ointments, patches and pet medication will be.

“Besides this being a great and safe way to get rid of the unused and unwanted drugs, it helps protect family and friends,”

said Officer Dan Lane, spokesman. “Hav-ing these prescriptions in your home when they are no longer needed present a danger of possible overdoses, substance abuse and poisoning.”

The event will also feature nine other county drop-off locations, including the 1st District Police Station at 100 Edison Park and the 6th District Police Station at 45-A W. Watkins Mill Road.

If you can’t make it to this event, the de-partment has a prescription drug drop off box in their station lobby available every day from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Extraordinary Gaithersburg: A City Defined by Its People

By Pam Schipper

T he city symbol of Gaithersburg—a tree hugged within the negative space of a capital letter “G”—is apt in its rec-

ognition of the city’s beautiful green spaces and its many volunteers who work countless hours to protect the environment. But what was brought home Thursday night at the State of the City Address is that Gaithersburg is first and foremost a city that embraces and is embraced by its residents.

Delivering his first State of the City Ad-dress at the Rosborough Cultural Arts Cen-ter with former mayor and current County Councilmember Sidney Katz in the audi-ence, Mayor Jud Ashman posed the question, “What is Gaithersburg?”

His answer? “Gaithersburg is its people. You and me. Simple as that. It is as good, as bad, or otherwise as its residents.”

He continued, “There’s no shortage of bad news in this world. But what gets overshad-

owed is the fact that ordinary people, people in this community, are doing extraordinary things.”

People like Stephanie Brant, principal of Gaithersburg Elementary, who received the Distinguished Friend of Gaithersburg Award given to those who have made significant contributions to the city but who do not live within its boundaries. City Councilmem-ber Mike Sesma described Brant as a “leader in the advocacy of literacy” and praised her work to establish a culture of reading at her school that includes books and bagels com-munity events, daily reading assignments and turning her car into a summer bookmobile to make sure that her students always have something to read. In addition to her work with the school system, Brant volunteers on the Gaithersburg Book Festival Commit-tee and set up the Whole Foods Kentlands Community Day event that recently raised more than $5,000 for the festival.

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n PoLice Beat Continued on page 15

n PoLice BLotter Continued on page 15

n city aDDress Continued on page 15

5/4Mayor and City Council Meeting, City Hall Council Chambers, 7:30 p.m.

5/6Planning Commission Meeting, City Hall Council Chambers, 7:30 p.m.

5/11Senior Advisory Committee Meeting, Gaithersburg Upcounty Senior Center, 10:30 a.m.

Mayor and City Council Work Session, City Hall Council Chambers, 7:30 p.m.

5/13Board of Appeals Meeting, City Hall Council Chambers, 7:30 p.m.

Multicultural Affairs Committee Meeting, Activity Center at Bohrer Park – Large Conference Room, 7:30 p.m.

For the latest information on city meetings, visit the City of Gaithersburg website at www.gaithersburgmd.gov.

MEETING CALENDAR

PoLiCeBLoTTer By Gina Gallucci-White

PoLiCeBeAT By Gina Gallucci-White

309 Main StreetGaithersburg, MD 20878

For Advertising: 301.279.2304Also on the Web at www.towncourier.com.

©2015 Courier CommunicationsThe Town Courier is an independent newspaper published twice a

month that provides news and information for the communities of Kentlands, Lakelands and Quince Orchard Park in Gaithersburg, Md. The paper is published by Courier Communications, which is respon-sible for the form, content and policies of the newspaper. The Town Courier does not espouse any political belief or endorse any product or service in its news coverage. Articles and letters submitted for pub-lication must be signed and may be edited for length or content. The Town Courier is not responsible for any claims made by advertisers Letters to the Editor and Commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff, management or advertisers of The Town Courier.

Pam Schipper Managing Editor

pam@towncourier.com

Debi Rosen Advertising Manager

301.279.2304 ads@towncourier.com

Leslie KennedyAdvertising Sales 301-330-0132

leslie@towncourier.com

Staff Photographers Debbie BodermanArthur Cadeaux

Yenrue ChenChristine Darton-Henrichsen

Staff Writers Sally Alt

Nora Caplan Mike Cuthbert

Gina Gallucci-WhiteSharon Allen Gilder

Betty Hafner

Sheilah Kaufman Donna Marks

Syl SobelMaureen StilesEllyn Wexler

Student Writer Ethan Cadeaux

Social Media Consultant

Mac Kennedy

Diane Dorney Publisher

news@towncourier.com

Matt Danielson President

matt@eink.net

Police Investigate Attempted Strong Arm Robbery

The Gaithersburg Police Department is investigating an attempted strong arm rob-bery between 4:30 and 5 p.m. April 9 in the 100 block of North Market Street.

A group of juveniles attempted to steal some scooters from some residents but were not successful, police said. The first suspect

is a black male juvenile who is about 4-foot 6-inches tall and weighs about 80 pounds. He has short black hair and was last seen wearing a gray hoodie and black jeans. The second suspect is a black male juvenile who is about 5 feet tall and weighs about 100 pounds. He was last seen wearing a green

Photo | City of Gaithersburg

Diamond elementary school fourth-grader andrew Volat is Gaithersburg’s new junior mayor. Here he receives a certificate of recognition from city councilmember neil Harris at the state of the city address on april 23.

May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 5

Business Incubator PlannedThe Mayor and City Council unani-

mously agreed during the April 6 meeting to allow staff to negotiate up to $100,000 in grant money from the City’s Econom-ic Development Opportunities Fund for a new business incubator to be located at 708 Quince Orchard Road.

LaunchLabs will be a public/private col-laborative partnership between the city, Alexandria LaunchLabs, Montgomery County and BioHealth Innovation. “The pursuit of an incubator has been listed as an action item for economic development at least for the past year,” said Tom Lo-

MCCF Meeting Looks at the Future of Transportation

By Donna Marks

R eal-time computer control of traffic signals at congestion points, incentives to encourage drivers to avoid peak

rush hour times or routes, and automated ve-hicle controls that prevent accidents are some strategies for solving our national transpor-tation problems. This was the consensus of presenters at a recent meeting of the Mont-gomery County Civic Federation (MCCF), held at the County Council office building in Rockville. MCCF is an organization made up of representatives of neighborhood civic organizations in Montgomery County.

Speakers included Vinn White, senior ad-visor at the U.S. Department of Transpor-tation, who gave a general overview of the trends that are likely to transform our trans-portation system over the next three decades. According to Mr. White, the 316-page re-port, titled “Beyond Traffic: Trends and Choices 2045,” includes case studies of solu-tions being tried at regional, state and local levels throughout the country. “It says, here’s what’s coming and here are the options for dealing with what’s coming,” he added. For example, in Boston, the transportation ser-vice company, Uber, offered to give the city its trip data to help officials plan future roads and infrastructure.

Adrian Guan, senior technical programs specialist for Intelligent Transportation Sys-tems-America (ITSA), described innovations on the horizon, including crash-avoidance systems such as cars communicating with each other and self-driving cars. Christof Spieler, Houston, Texas, Metro board mem-ber and professional planner, discussed how Houston used data from local bus users to im-prove local bus service at no additional cost to taxpayers.

These strategies should also apply to pub-

lic transportation in Montgomery County, according to Jerry Garson, MCCF trans-portation committee chairman. He said that when the Montgomery County Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) was being planned, no consideration was given, for example, to building warm shelters for commuters. “We have to look at what’s practical, what’s effi-cient,” he said. “They didn’t consider who was going to use the system and whether they would be comfortable and safe.”

MCCF Vice President James Zepp add-ed that traffic is a dynamic phenomenon and people make choices. “The assumption is that, if you build more roads, then traffic congestion will be reduced. But, sometimes, if you remove a highway, people will redis-tribute themselves, take other routes, or not travel during rush hour,” he explained.

Local neighborhoods, including Wash-ingtonian Woods, are concerned about how the CCT will change the dynamics of their communities. Lisa Cline, who represents Washingtonian Woods, is a resident who is working to get the CCT realigned away from the neighborhoods. “The damages we will experience are greater than the benefits,” she added. “There are many community organi-zations and individuals who are upset with (county executive) Ike Leggett’s lack of com-munity input when it comes to transportation decisions.”

The CCT is a 15-mile roadway from the former COMSAT facility near Clarksburg to the Shady Grove Metro Station. The project has two phases. Phase I is 9 miles from Met-ropolitan Grove to Shady Grove and is pro-ceeding with engineering and environmental analysis and is funded for formal environmen-tal documentation, final design, and right-of-way acquisition. Phase II will be a future extension from Metropolitan Grove to the former COMSAT facility near Clarksburg.

301-299-5222

301-657-3332

n city scene Continued on page 14

CiTysCene By Gina Gallucci-White

Photo | Christine Darton-Henrichsen, Potshots by Christine

Washingtonian Woods resident Lisa cline stands on the berm that will be used for the corridor cities transitway. she demonstrates the proximity of homes to Great seneca Highway.

Page 6 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

Marissa Moss: A Q&ABy Ellyn Wexler

P rolific children’s book author and il-lustrator Marissa Moss, 55, a Univer-sity of California, Berkeley, graduate

and author of more than 50 picture books, middle grade and young adult novels, will be a featured author at the Gaithers-burg Book Festival on Saturday, May 16. She will speak on “Amelia and Her Note-books,” the 30-book series for which she is best known that culminates in the “Ame-lia’s Middle-School Graduation Year-book,” published in April. Her talk will take place from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m., followed by a book signing, in the Jim Henson Pa-vilion. The festival will take place from 10

a.m. to 6 p.m. on the City Hall Grounds, 31 South Summit Ave. Admission and parking are free. For more information, visit gaithersburgbookfestival.org.

How much of Amelia is based on you?The Amelia books are based on me when

I was a kid, but when I wrote the first one, I didn’t know there would be others, so I just focused on the most important char-acters—Amelia, her older sister, and her mom. In real life, I have two brothers and two sisters and my parents aren’t divorced, but I couldn’t juggle that many characters. I got a lot of mail from readers wanting to know what happened to Amelia’s dad, so I had to come up with a story which

emerges in four of the books, including the last, “Amelia’s Middle-School Graduation Yearbook.” Like Amelia, I always wanted to write and draw stories. I was pretty good at drawing when I was little, so I entered every art contest I could find. Once I won a year’s supply of ice cream cones!

Where were you born and brought up?We moved around a lot when I was

a kid. So I was born in a small town in Pennsylvania, but we moved to San Diego when I was 2, then to Los Angeles, then Palos Verdes, then to northern California, where I’ve lived ever since. That’s why I used moving as the overarching narrative in the first “Amelia’s Notebook.”

When did you start writing, and in what formats?

I sent my first picture book to publishers when I was 9. It was a picture book about an owl having a tea party, but it wasn’t very good (of course!), so nobody took it. I didn’t try again until I was a grown-up, and then it took five years of submitting stories, getting them rejected, revising them, and sending them in again until I got my first book accepted.

How did you come up with the idea for the Amelia’s Notebooks, and how did they evolve over the course of your books?

I got the idea for Amelia when I was buying school supplies for my son and saw one of those composition notebooks. It re-minded me of the notebook I kept when I was a kid, so I bought it and started writing down what I remembered from when I was 9. So Amelia is a lot like me, but I change some details to make better stories. The books have evolved as Amelia’s gotten old-er. She starts out in fourth grade and ends

up in eighth, and a lot happens in those years. The middle school books are lon-ger (80 pages instead of 40) and deal with more complicated issues, but the sense of humor and the emotional truth is the same throughout the series, more than 30 books in all.

In addition to being a children’s author, do you have your own children?

I have three sons, and they’ve always been my first readers. They’re very criti-cal, but when I hear them laughing, I know I’ve done something right.

How and why did you decide that this will be your last Amelia book?

After 20 years, it seemed like the right time. I knew I wanted to do something

Compiled by Pam Schipper

‘The Landscape’ art exhibit, Arts Entwine jewelry exhibitThrough May 17, Arts Barn

The City of Gaithersburg presents “The Landscape” featuring paintings by Joanne Bleichner, Rulei Bu, and Todd Baxter Dawson and jewelry from resident artists Arts Entwine at the Arts Barn Main Gal-lery. The Invitational Gallery will feature artwork from the students of Sue Kay. www.gaithersburbmd.gov

Gaithersburg Fine Arts Association Annual Juried ExhibitThrough May 22, Kentlands Mansion

A tradition for almost 30 years, this an-nual show brings to the mansion an array of beautiful artwork from our local artists. www.gaithersburgmd.gov

Shades of Spring Show & SaleThrough May 3; 4-7 p.m. Friday, 12-7 p.m. Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Sunday, BlackRock Center for the Arts

The Art League of Germantown’s an-nual show and sale offers art, education, activities and live music all weekend long.

On Friday, May 1, 4 to 7 p.m., you can see artists at work, drawing inspiration from floral designs created by the Independent Floral Designers of America. Then on Sat-urday, May 2, bring the children for a fun Kids Create activity, 12-1:30 p.m., and then relax with tea and live music at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 3, wraps the show up with a Meet the Artists Reception from 1-3 p.m. Free. www.blackrockcenter.org

Zumba in the ParkMay 1, 7-8 p.m., City Hall Concert Pavilion

Brought back by popular demand, Zum-ba in the Park returns on Friday evenings from 7 to 8 p.m. at City Hall Concert Pavil-ion, May 1 to Aug. 28 (no Zumba May 15 and July 3). All ages are welcome for this free, family-friendly event. New this year: Yoga in the Park premiers on Tuesday eve-nings from 7 to 8 p.m. at the City Hall Concert Pavilion, June 16-July 7. Bring a yoga mat, towel or blanket. Beginners are welcome! www.gaithersburgmd.gov

Magic & Mayhem with David LondonMay 1, 8-10 p.m., Arts Barn

David London returns to the Gaithers-

n arts & entertainMent Continued on page 16

n Q&a Continued on page 14

ArTs& enTerTAinmenT

Photo | Submitted

Marissa Moss, author of the bestselling series amelia’s notebooks, speaks at the Gaithersburg Book festival on saturday, May 16.

May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 7

Compiled by Pam Schipper

Northwest High School Named National Green Ribbon School

Northwest High School has been select-ed as a recipient of the 2015 U.S. Green Ribbon Schools Award. The Germantown school is among 58 winning schools from

across the nation.The Green Ribbon Schools Award pro-

gram, established in 2011, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and recognizes schools that save energy, re-duce costs, feature environmentally sustain-

Community Leaders, QO Athletes Read to RCES Students

By Syl Sobel

R achel Carson Elementary School re-cently held its 13th annual Guest Read-er Day, at which civic and community

leaders, former teachers, local athletic heroes, and others visit the school’s classrooms, read to students, answer questions, and otherwise engage them.

“We started this event to promote the love of reading,” said Larry Chep, the school’s principal. He explained that the event is usu-ally held in conjunction with “Read Across America” or “National Reading Day.”

This year, classes from pre-K through grade 5 had guest readers that included Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman; Mont-gomery County Councilmember Sidney Katz; Fire Chief David Seckel; Board of Education members Rebecca Smondrowski, Michael Durso, and student member Dahilia Huh; retired Rachel Carson teachers, staff and principal; the Frederick Keys’ mascot;

and television newscaster Mike Hydeck.“It’s fun for both the kids and for me,” said

Ashman. “I don’t have many opportunities to read children’s literature anymore and so it’s always a treat to be reminded of how wondrous and magical those books are.”

“I love the opportunity to get the students excited about the upcoming Gaithersburg Book Festival,” added Ashman, who read two books written by authors who will speak at the May 16 festival. “The kids loved the books, and I think they find it exciting that they’ll be able to meet the authors.”

Readers also included Quince Orchard varsity basketball players Damon Daniel, Johnny Fierstein, and Matthew Kelly and their coach, Paul Foringer, and QO varsi-ty football players Benji Bloom, Ray Butler, Eisley Kim, Jon McDonald, Adam McLean, Khalil Sewell, Zeph Titus, and Max Ward, assistant coach T.J. Changuris, and head coach John Kelley.

n reaDinG Day Continued on page 17

n assiGnMent eDucation Continued on page 17

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Photo | Tim Aley

community and civic leaders, Quince orchard coaches and sports heroes read to rachel carson elementary students at the 13th annual Guest reader Day on april 1. Volunteers included varsity football player Zeph titus, pictured above.

Photo | Debbie Boderman

the Von trapp Kids with their nanny Maria brought the Quince orchard High school auditorium alive with “the sound of Music” on saturday, april 25. cast members are Miranda Levin (Maria), rebecca Worley (Liesl), eli schwartz (friedrich), tobi Baiburd (Louisa), christopher Hunter (Kurt), cassidy solomon (Brigitta), Megan smith (Marta), and alina Miller (Gretl).

Page 8 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

vited the 30-plus people assembled to ask themselves, “How can we come togeth-er to do more? How can we support the stakeholders in our community?”

This community forum is the first of many, according to KDP organizers. An-other meeting of stakeholders and residents will be held in six months.

Among the stakeholders assembled for the first community forum were city of-ficials; representatives of the Kentlands homeowners association, the Kentlands

Community Foundation and other com-munity groups; local business owners; and property managers. Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman, and City Councilmembers Neil Harris and Mike Sesma represented the city. Individuals representing com-munity groups included Kentlands Com-munity Foundation Director Carrie Dietz, Kentlands Citizens Assembly (KCA) Pres-ident Barney Gorin, KCA Secretary Glen Palman, KCA Trustee Rob Garretson and Bike Gaithersburg organizer Jennifer Al-len. The many business owners in atten-dance included Cheryl Stafford of Stafford Studio (also KDP secretary), Ann Derry-

berry of Chyten Tutoring (also KDP vice president), Robyn and Chris Gault of Fleet Feet Sports Gaithersburg, Dennis Stiles of Stiles Dentistry, Joe and Lew Tipograph of Tipo’s Toy Box, attorneys David and Julie Weber of Goodwin Weber PLLC, Will Corbin of Corbin Creative Databases, Mary Fehlig of the Fehlig Group, Heather Webb of Men’s Personal Stylist, and Deb-bie Lessans of Kentlands Lodge. Saul Cen-ters leasing agent Diana Shipley and Beatty spokespersons Bob and Shaun Auxier (also owners of Shop Kentlands and Blittzed Marketing) came to the forum on behalf of the property managers. Longtime com-

munity activist Richard Arkin was also in attendance.

The forum’s first goal was to come up with an identity for Kentlands. Cheryl Stafford led the conversation that con-verged on two themes—“more like a small town feel” and “family but urban.”

Ann Derryberry noted, “We need to know what brand to take outside of Kent-lands.” She suggested that the group take the next 6 to 18 months to “enliven the area” and define what the community is “building toward.”

second year in a row. “It’s a fun way to get to Kentlands Day,” said Jennifer Allen, who runs Bike Gaithersburg with her hus-band. “It can be quicker than walking.”

The valet will be available all day and located in the area of the recently closed Healthy Back store. About 80 people uti-lized the service last year. “Our real goal is to make bicycling a third mode of trans-portation in Gaithersburg,” Allen said. “We just want to encourage people to bi-cycle more.”

The free celebration will feature a vari-ety of different entertainment options for patrons. “It’s the most fun thing to do,” Ross said. “There is so much to do. All your neighbors are going to be out hav-

ing fun, so it’s a great way to connect with people after hibernating for the winter.”

Kick off the day at 9 a.m. with a pre-par-ty Kentlands Acoustic Jam concert at the Kentlands Starbucks. Then meander over to the roadway to grab a good seat for the parade starting at 10 a.m. Around 50 en-tries including local Boy and Girl Scout troops and the Baltimore-based group The Band will be marching down the local roads. This year’s grand marshal will be second-grader Arabelle Gemmell and her dad, Ken. The Gemmells were rocked by tragedy late last year when a plane crashed into their home, killing Arabelle’s mom and two younger brothers. A GoFundMe page in the family’s honor has raised nearly $500,000.

After watching the parade, check out the festival, which will feature a giant mini-

golf course run by the Rachel Carson El-ementary PTA. Adventist Health Care Shady Grove Hospital is the main sponsor of the event, and they will be doing a num-ber of activities like wellness screenings and a teddy bear or doll health screening. “Kids can bring their stuffed animals, and doctors will make sure the dolls’ heartbeats are good,” Ross said.

More than 100 businesses will also be participating in the business fair with around a dozen restaurants selling their tempting treats during Taste of Kentlands. Those who appreciate the beauty of histor-ic cars will want check out the classic car show, which usually features around 40 to 50 vehicles.

Catch local kids as they share their tal-ents on the main stage, including show-cases by Kicks Karate, Dynamite Gym-

nastics, Two Left Feet Dance and Duffy Irish Dance. Get ready to rock out as three bands, Throwing Wrenches, Nauseous Hippos, and Fuse take the teen stage to perform songs.

Patricia Elder, a local realtor, has volun-teered with the event for several years and helped to coordinate this year’s teen show-case. Her son plays in Throwing Wrench-es. “We’ve lived here for about 12 years, and it’s just a great opportunity to have the whole community come together,” she said. Each band performing has at least one member who is a resident of the neighbor-hood. “We wanted to keep it local. ... The kids, they range in experience but I think they are all quite good,” she said. “I think it’s really going to be something interesting (to watch).”

n kentlands day from page 1

n coMMunity foruM Continued on page 13

n community forum from page 1

May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 9

Two Paws Up for Whole FoodsShop at Whole Foods Market Kentlands

through July 5 and help MCPAW, Montgom-ery County Partners for Animal Well-being. MCPAW is Whole Foods Kentlands’ Nickels for Nonprofits recipient for this quarter. For every reusable bag you use, you get a 5-cent

bag credit that you can put toward your pur-chase or donate to MCPAW. Just tell the cashier that you would like to donate the 5 cents, and they will enter a special code on the register. For children who wish to do-nate to MCPAW, your cashier can give you a wooden nickel that kids can drop in a box near the door.

Foundry Fitness to Remain on Main Street

Although The Foundry-Brazilian Jiu  Jitsu  Academy will be moving on May 1, Foundry Fitness will remain in their current location at  336  Main St. Owner Eric Pellicci and his professional trainers will continue to provide high intensity group fitness classes, personal training sessions, Foundry Flow yoga, and community events.

shoPTALk Compiled by Pam Schipper

Photo | Pam Schipper

the long-anticipated Mathnasium is “coming soon” to 206 Market st. e., according to a new sign in the window next to Dryclean station.

Women Explore Art of Exotic Dance at Studio Booseh

By Ellyn Wexler

A universal sign of love, reverence or greeting inspired Souzan Mills in deciding what to call her cultural

dance and fitness boutique in the Kent-lands. Her 4 1/2-year old Studio Booseh, which offers women instruction in bel-ly dance, Persian dance, Bollywood and Zumba, bears the name of the Farsi and Arabic word for “kiss.”

“We use the word around the house, among our kids,” Mills said. “Even our dogs know we are asking for a kiss when we ask them in Farsi. Also, Booseh has brought a lot of people together.”

Mills, 43, has danced since age 3, when she “recognized her inner gift” in her native Tehran. The child joined her mother, grand-mother and other relatives, becoming im-

n stuDio BooseH Continued on page 19

Photo | Mac Kennedy

at the 420 Main st. studio Booseh, students learn raghse sharghi, a classical egyptian style of dance known in the Western world as belly dance.

n sHoP taLK Continued on page 19

Page 10 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

Kentlands/Lakelands Summer Movies and Music Begin

Kentlands and Lakelands Movies on the Lawn are set to begin with a screening of “Dragon 2” on Friday, May 8 at dusk on the Lakelands lawn. Lakelands movies con-tinue on select Friday nights through Sept. 11. Kentlands movies will be shown on the Kentlands lawn select Saturday nights at dusk. The Kentlands series begins June 13 with “Annie.”

KCA Concerts on the Lawn begin May 30, 6 p.m. with Moxie. All outdoor events organized by the HOAs are open to both Kentlands and Lakelands communities.

Bike Gaithersburg Kicks Into High Gear for National Bike Month

May is National Bike Month, sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists. To cel-ebrate this, Bike Gaithersburg has a month of activities planned to encourage young and old to get out there and ride. Accord-ing to Jennifer Allen, who co-founded Bike Gaithersburg with her husband, “The month is dedicated to celebrating the joy of bicy-cling. Bike Gaithersburg will be providing opportunities and resources to encourage people to think of how biking can be a fun and everyday activity, whether you are eight years old or 80.”

You can start National Bike Month off right by bicycling to Kentlands Day. Bike Gaithersburg has partnered with Two Wheel

Valet to offer a free bicycle valet on May 2.In addition to a May 6 Rachel Carson

Elementary School bike train, Bike Gaith-ersburg encourages kids to ride with its first Kidical Mass Gaithersburg social ride on May 9, 10 a.m. The group will meet at Main Street and Darnestown Road and ride on shared-use paths to the park located near Lake Inspiration in Kentlands.

Commuters are encouraged to use two-wheeled transportation, too. On May 15, the City of Gaithersburg hosts National Bike to Work Day, and Bike Gaithersburg joins the city. A pit stop at Kentlands Boulevard and Great Seneca Highway offers cycling resources from a variety of organizations and a prize raffle. Register at www.biketoworkmetrodc.org.

Visit www.bikegaithersburg.com for more information.

Kentlands Film Society Subscriptions Available May 17

Subscriptions for the 2015-2016 five-film series are $40. All films are screened at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn. A 45-minute recep-tion precedes each film.

The 2015-2016 season offers a great variety of films. These are “The Lunchbox” (2013) PG, a romance of sorts set in Mumbai, screened on Sept. 13; “The Hunt” (2012) R, a drama about a schoolteacher who faces unfounded accusations made by a student, screened on Nov. 8; “Undertow” (2009) NR, a drama set on the coast of Peru about the complexities of marriage and love, screened Jan. 17, 2016; “Ida” (2013) PG-13,

a drama set in 1962 Poland about a young woman’s journey to find her true identity, screened on March 13, 2016; “Locke” (2013) R, a thriller about a man fighting to save all that is important to him, screened on May 15, 2016.

A limited number of individual tickets are available for each screening at $9. Patrons can call Bob Dymond at 240.477.8211 for reservations before each film.

The 2014-2015 Kentlands Film Society season concludes Sunday, May 17 with the 7 p.m. showing of “Butterfly” (R), about a boy in Galicia who finds himself coming of age during a tense period before the Spanish Civil War. For more information, visit kent-lands.org/film-society.

MCRRC Team Places First in Division at Boston Marathon

Washingtonian Woods resident Lisa Re-ichmann proved that her running program Run Farther and Faster, co-founded with fellow trainer Julie Sapper, is more than just an inspirational name. On April 20 at the Boston Marathon, Reichmann ran far-ther and faster to complete a 3:11 in the rain. With teammates Chrissy Graham and Cin-dy Conant, Reichmann led the MCRRC (Montgomery County Road Runners Club) Women’s Masters Team to first place in its division.

KCF GO GREEN Group RecognizedThe Kentlands Community Foundation

GO GREEN group won the City of Gaith-

ersburg’s Environmental Award for its ef-forts to care for the environment, including clean-ups to beautify the community and protect the local Muddy Branch and Ches-apeake Bay. The group also secured a grant to develop a conservation garden and an organic vegetable garden at Rachel Carson Elementary School. To support healthy soil, improve water quality and minimize expo-sure to pesticides, the group worked to tran-sition Kentlands from using traditional lawn care to pesticide-free and organic methods. The award was given on April 20 in a special ceremony held at Gaithersburg City Hall.

Community Dinner Planned for June 13

The Kentlands 25 Committee, the Kent-lands Citizens Assembly, the Kentlands Downtown Partnership and the Kentlands Community Foundation, in partnership with the City of Gaithersburg, announce a summer kick-off event community dinner. “Kentlands Under the Lights,” planned for Saturday, June 13, 6 to 10 p.m., will feature al fresco dining with live entertainment in Kentlands Market Square and surround-ing streets (Market Street East and Market Street West from Center Point Way to Main Street). This event is supported by MedIm-mune/Astra Zeneca.

Please contact John Ingrassia, chair, Kent-lands Community Foundation with ques-tions. He can be reached at 240.832.0557. Businesses interested in being a part of “Taste of Kentlands” are urged to contact Andy Ross at 301.529.2056.

from page 3

ArounDTown

May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 11

spring savings!

achieved via “a deep understanding of the data,” is to produce “the most thoughtful, best bicycle plan ever known to human-kind.” He added that both professionally and personally, he takes bicycling “seriously as an important, viable means of transpor-tation.”

“We want to make sure the latest thinking in bicycle planning is reflected,” Anspacher said, proceeding to show visual representa-tions of various road accommodations, in-cluding the standard bike lane, buffered bike lane, shared-use path or sharrow, two-way cycle track, and bicycle boulevard. He noted the increasing area presence of Capital Bike-share and the need for bike stations, which are proliferating across the country.

Anspacher reviewed some of the tools, studies and statistics planners will use in determining how to best serve the area’s four categories of potential transportation cyclists: strong and fearless 1 percent; en-thused and confident 10 percent; interested but concerned 60 percent; and no way, no how 30 percent. Charts showed bicyclists’ varying volume and speed traffic stress lev-els, as well as how best to accommodate each category of cyclist from experienced to be-ginner—that is, from 40-plus miles per hour vehicle traffic for the 1 percent to low vol-ume, low speed neighborhood roads, cycle tracks and trails for families.

He was pleased that the meeting was “well-attended by a full range of cyclists, in-cluding those that tolerate both higher and

lower traffic stress environments” and be-lieves that “participants came away with an understanding of the overall update to the bicycle master plan that will start July 1 and why we are advancing the plan in the area surrounding the CCT.”

“The comments were excellent and re-flected a maturing bicycling environment in Montgomery County,” Anspacher said. “For many years, the discussion of bicy-cling in Montgomery County has revolved around accommodating two specific groups: higher-speed ‘commuter’ cyclists and low-er-speed ‘recreational’ cyclists. The ques-

tions reflected the large variety of cyclists and their differing needs that have emerged over the past five to 10 years in the region.”

In July, the draft that concentrates on the CCT will go to the planning board, which will approve the scope of work in September, followed by a methodolo-gy report in March 2016, planning board work sessions in February 2017 leading to an April 2017 draft and ultimately, Mont-gomery County Council approval of the overall update in September 2017. For up-dates on this plan, or to offer feedback, visit montgomeryplanning.org/bikeplan.

n BikeWays from page 1

Photo | Montgomery Planning

Planning has begun for a high-quality bicycle network that facilitates neighborhood access to the planned corridor cities transitway stations. early study concerns the Life science center Loop, shown in the map above.

Page 12 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

The ParkPagesNews and Current Events for Quince Orchard Park n E-mail your contributions to ellyn@towncourier.com n may 2015

Meeting Calendar5/12 — HOA Annual & Board Meeting, Clubhouse, 7 p.m.5/25 — Condo Board I, Clubhouse, 7 p.m.5/27 — Condo Board II, Clubhouse, 7 p.m.

MANAGEMENT MENTIONS

Trash and RecyclingTrash, which is collected on Tuesday and Friday,

must be placed in lidded trash cans. Trash should not be left for collection in bags; these may be ripped open by dogs, birds and other pests, and trash is strewn throughout the community. Continued use of bags may result in fines.

Consider painting your house number on your trash cans and lids so they may be returned on windy days.

It is also helpful to label recycling bins with house numbers, and to place bagged newspapers and maga-zines atop commingled materials in the bin.

Trash cans and recycle bins must be stored out of sight on non-pickup days.

Recycling is picked up on Fridays. Containers, with lids, are now available from the City of Gaith-ersburg. Please contact the city at 301.258.6370 to have a lidded bin delivered and the old one picked up. The new bins will diminish problems with trash in the neighborhood. It is helpful to label recycling bins with house numbers. Lids may be attached to bins by drilling small holes and attaching with twine.

Bulk recycling pickups are the first Friday of each month. May 1 is the next bulk pickup day.

The City of Gaithersburg and Potomac Disposal (301.294.9700) both offer collection services for bulk items at no cost.

Dog Duty and Animal Services InformationCleaning up after dogs is the legal responsibility of

every canine owner walking a dog in the community. Dogs are not permitted off-leash on common proper-ty in the City of Gaithersburg.

Contact Information for Gaithersburg Animal Control

To report after hours/emergency animal service calls, City of Gaithersburg residents must now contact the Montgomery County Emergency Communica-tion Center (MCECC) at 301.279.8000. MCECC will then notify and dispatch a Gaithersburg Animal Control Officer for response.

To report non-emergency animal service calls and for information on related animal matters during regular business hours, residents may contact the Gaithersburg Animal Control Office directly at 301.258.6343. Regular hours of operation are Mon-day through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, please visit www.gaithersburgmd.gov/animal.

WebsiteAgendas for meetings, as well as many important

documents (minutes and meeting summaries) can be found at the QOP website: www.quinceorchardpark.com.

QOP Management Contact InformationQuince Orchard Park

Community Manager Steve Leskowitz

QOP Assistant Community Manager Alex Deering

c/o The Management Group Associates, Inc.20440 Century Boulevard, Suite 100

Germantown, MD 20874Phone: 301.948.6666

QOP NEWS

New Agent in TownThe Management

Group Associates, Inc., welcomed agent Alex Deering on March 31. Deering will be assist-ing Quince Orchard Park Community Man-ager Steve Leskowitz.

Deering has been in the property manage-ment business for about seven years, having started as an admin-istrative assistant and promoted 18 months later to assistant community manager in a small company called The Simmons Management Group. He subsequently worked at Legum & Norman for four years, first as an as-sistant community manager/community coordinator, and then as on-site manager for a 325-unit homeowners asso-ciation.

As to his role at QOP, “I know I’m going to be assisting Steve managing the community in any way I can. I believe

I’m going to be heavily involved in the ACC (architectural committee) and, I’m sure, a few other things,” he said.

Deering said QOP “seems really nice. I have driven through it twice already to familiarize myself with it, and I am excited to be on board to help in whatever way I can.”

Annual Meeting, Election RescheduledThe 10 percent quorum of members necessary to convene

the annual meeting of the QOP Community Association was not achieved at the April 14 board meeting. Therefore, the annual meeting and election for the two open posi-tions on the board has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, in the QOP Clubhouse. This time, a quorum of five percent, in person or by proxy, is required.

Yard Sale Date SetQOP residents Angela Martinelli, Jaime Howenstein and

Caroline Mah have volunteered to coordinate the Annual Community Yard Sale, set for Saturday, May 16, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. These women will arrange for advertising, signage and logistics, and find a charitable organization to which unsold items wil be donated immediately after the sale. Participants and/or volunteers, including Vistas resi-dents, are welcome; email RNRupsss@gmail.com.

The QOP Board of Directors approved a proposal for a QOP and Vistas youth swim training program (YST) at its April 14 meeting. Parents with years of swim team and meet management experience, including resident Carole Valis, submitted the proposal. The program involves us-ing the QOP pool and the community center to host YST practices and events, which is anticipated to generate com-munity awareness and support for the swim team.

For the past five years, QOP families have had the op-portunity to pay a modified membership to join the Di-amond Farms HOA pool, which made their children el-igible to participate on the swim team. However, as the percentage of swim team members from QOP & Vistas has grown, with 25 QOP families and 47 swimmers last year, so has the desire to swim in the QOP community pool.

The proposal is strictly for use of facilities, and no fund-ing beyond the current $500 allotment from the QOP HOA budget. In past years, the QOP HOA Board has cov-ered fees associated with minimal practices at the QOP pool. This summer, the plan is for the team to pay any associated fees (for example, lifeguards/pool operator) out of the team’s surplus, so there would be no additional cost

to the QOP HOA.The following days/times were approved: 25 practices

requested (15 morning practices from June 16 to July 17, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 to 10 a.m., using entire pool before it opens to the community) and 10 early eve-ning practices, June 15 to July 15, Monday and Wednes-day, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., using three lanes only. Youth Swim Program representatives will be responsible for set-up and clean-up for each practice.

To be eligible for the program, youth, ages 6 to 18, must be current pool members in good standing with the HOA and have a valid QOP pool pass. Children, 6 to 12, must have parental supervision during practices. Membership is limited to QOP and Vistas residents and their guests (a maximum of three guests per family). Participants must be a current member of a Montgomery County Swim League (MCSL) team or meet the following guidelines: ability to swim butterfly, backstroke, breast stroke and freestyle legally; ability to swim an hour-long practice using the four strokes; and ability to follow directions from coaches during practices.

Photo | Carole Valis

Pictured are Diamond farm stingrays team members at the 2014 Divisionals. Join the swim team this season by attending the Diamond farm stingrays’ kick-off meeting and registration at the QoP community center on sunday, May 17, 5 p.m. contact carole Valis, valiscb@yahoo.com, for more information.

QOP Board Approves Youth Swim Training Proposal

Photo | Christine Darton-Henrichsen, Potshots by Christine

alex Deering is the new assistant community manager for Quince orchard Park.

May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 13

2014

The Arts Barn, Kentlands Mansion, and the area’s lakes and parks were also recog-nized as strengths that define the commu-nity. Joe Allen spoke of The Arts Barn as a “shining gem,” and emphasized that “cul-ture and community” identify Kentlands.

Barney Gorin said that Kentlands parks, The Arts Barn and Kentlands Mansion of-fer a wonderful branding opportunity, but that this park-like and clean feeling need to follow through in the business district. He noted that there is too much trash on the streets in the business district.

All agreed that branding and marketing Kentlands events, businesses and services are important to the community’s revital-ization. The need for a Main Street group to unify landlords and businesses in the Main Street live/work units was seen as in-tegral to this branding effort. Also includ-ed in the overall communications strategy discussed was the need for better signage. Councilmember Harris expanded signage to include virtual direction systems like Google Maps.

KCA President Gorin suggested the for-mation of an umbrella group to represent all businesses in the Kentlands area, cre-ating “one voice to bring unified brand-ing and vision … for trash, landscaping, events.”

The business district’s unique property manager situation was discussed, including the pros and cons of how this affects busi-

ness owners and residents. Attorneys Da-vid and Julie Weber saw a need for Beatty Management Companies, Saul Centers and Main Street landlords to work together to maintain a better retail mix in the area.

Saul Centers leasing agent Diana Shipley said that people want choices and offering this benefits the community. She cautioned against limiting the landlord’s ability to lease space.

Going forward, the KDP will be form-ing two working groups to focus on sig-nage and the creation of a Main Street um-brella group. An overarching priority for the next six to 18 months will be branding and marketing of the Kentlands business district.

Mayor Jud Ashman pledged city support for the Kentlands revitalization, saying, “Whatever we can do, we would like to do it.” He also emphasized that Kentlands “is an astonishingly successful community. It is exactly what it was designed to be. It was a pioneering new urbanist community, and in some ways is a victim of its success—now everyone is copying it.”

Councilmember Harris described the Kentlands Boulevard Commercial District Special Study Area master plan that was adopted in 2008 (www.gaithersburgmd.gov/serv ices/planning-serv ices/city-master-plan) and should bring more mixed-use development to Kentlands when the Corridor Cities Transitway is constructed. He noted that while now Downtown Crown is the new thing, “We’ll be the new, new thing in a few years.”

n community forum from page 8

Page 14 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

We’re your neighborhood summer camp at

Quince Orchard Swim & Tennis Club

301.948.3116 • QOSTC.COM

Summer Children’s Activity Camp• Ages 6-9• Mon-Fri 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.• Only 12 children per week• Certified Early Childhood Directors• Friday parties• Certified Maryland Youth Camp• Swim & Tennis lessons

High School Preparatory Tennis Camp• Advanced Tournament and Pre Tournament Tennis

Players• Instructed by Former Men’s and Women’s ITF Pro-

fessionals as well as USPTA Tri-State Pro of the Year and Sports Performance Psychologist

• Technical Correction, Technique Enhancement, Specialized Fitness

Summer Youth Tennis Camp• Ages 8-17• Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. • Early drop off & late pickup available• 4:1 children to instructor ratio• Certified USPTA Professionals• 25 year summer tradition• Directed by USTA Maryland Pro of the Year

Ten and Under Tennis Camp• First Club in State of Maryland to offer this Camp!• Ages 6-10• Mon-Fri 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.• Early drop off and late pick-up available• 4:1 children to instructor ratio

to celebrate the series making it to 20, and the “Amelia’s Middle-School Gradu-ation Yearbook” seemed like a good way to sum up Amelia’s middle school career while dealing with the issues of facing high school without your best friend and exploring family identity, two major fac-tors for me in my own teen years. In some ways, this is a nostalgic wrap-up for young women who grew up with the series, while introducing a new story to frame it all.

What are you working on now? What are your plans for the future?

Right now I’m working on another se-ries finale, the fourth and last book in the “Mira’s Diary” series. Those books com-bine time-travel, history, art, and questions of injustice throughout the world. The first book took place in 19th century Paris and involved the artist Degas and the Dreyfus Affair; the second is in 17th century Rome, introducing Caravaggio and the Roman Inquisition; the third is in WWI London, dealing with women’s suffrage, Beatrix Potter, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Zim-merman telegram. The last book happens closer to home, in San Francisco. It’s a lot of fun learning about the area where I live, seeing it through historical layers. Next on my plate is a graphic memoir I’ve been working on for years. The graphic novel format is a challenge, but it’s a lot of fun. I just hope I can get it right!

n Q&a from page 6

nergan, director of the city’s Economic and Business Development Department. “The Shady Grove Innovation Center, also known as the Shady Grove Incuba-tor, did close in 2014 which left the City of Gaithersburg without a business incu-bator that could address the unique needs of emerging biotech companies. ... Grow-ing demand for small lab space for early biotech companies has been insufficiently met. This LaunchLab opportunity (does) provide the city a unique opportunity to further capture this very niche market.”

Forty companies were displaced by the closing of the Shady Grove Incubator, and some went out of business, Lonergan said. Eight remained in Gaithersburg after the closure. “Frankly, if we had had more of these small offices and land spaces available, we probably would have gotten more.”

Larry Diamond, senior vice president of Alexandria Real Estate, said it would cost more than $800,000 to construct the labs. “We think this will result in some pret-ty significant job growth in the city,” he said. They hope for companies to only be at the facility for 12 to 18 months before blossoming into bigger companies.”

“There’s nothing better we can do for a city than to provide opportunities for new businesses to start, put people to work, and this is just a step in the right direction,” said Councilmember Henry F. Marraffa Jr.

Synthetic Turf Field Now Available for ‘Open Play’

The popular synthetic turf field at Lake-lands Park, previously available for permit-ted use only, will now be available during select hours for open play. From May 2 to Nov. 29, 2015, the field will be accessible to the general public on Saturdays from 2 to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from 1:30 to 5 p.m. The field is used at other times for City of Gaithersburg sports programs and for other activities on a rental basis. Please note that “open play” time does not include formal practices. For more infor-mation please visit www.gaithersburgmd.gov or contact the Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture at 301.258.6350, parksrec@gaithersburgmd.gov.

Police Foundation to Host Fundraiser

Need some libations after a tough day at work? Head to Dogfish Alehouse on May 12 where 15 percent of the day’s proceeds will benefit the Gaithersburg Po-lice Foundation.

This is the foundation’s most popular an-nual fundraiser and will mark its seventh partnership with the local business. Mem-bers of the foundation and police department will be at the event throughout the day.

Festival to Host Free Children’s and Adult Writing Workshops

For those who are looking for a way to feed their creative writing muse, the

Gaithersburg Book Festival will be offer-ing free writing workshops from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 16 on the grounds of City Hall on South Summit Avenue. The workshops will be led by writing and design profes-sionals from throughout the D.C. metro region.

Children’s workshops, which are held throughout the day, are available for kids from ages 6 to teens. Workshops include Tunnel Books for Children, Making Com-ics, Characters & Dramatic Action, Create Your Own Stories: Fiction Writing, Pop-ping Up with Robert Sabuda, Fly Lan-guage: Poetry Raises Up! and College Ad-mission Essay Writing: Writing Your Way Into College.

Adult workshops, available to those 16 and up, will be hosted by the festival, The Writer’s Center and NaNoWriMo. Work-shops include Writing the Memoir, Con-nect with Kids! Adults Writing for Chil-dren, Give’em the Hook: Catchy Opening Sentences, Introduction to Songwriting, and NaNoWriMo Panel: You Can Be A Writer Too!

No registration is required for the chil-dren’s free workshops but only a limit-ed number of guests are allowed to par-ticipate in each. Adults may register in the workshop tent on the day of the fes-tival for the free workshops. Spots are given on a first-come, first-served basis. For more detailed description of each workshop, go to the festival’s website at www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org.

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May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 15

Brant thanked her staff, who are “her he-roes,” and her parents for supporting her, and shared that the best part of her day is when the kids walk through the school doors in the morning. “I tell them, ‘Be kind, work hard, have courage, and give back to those around you.’”

Gaithersburg’s extraordinary people in-clude real estate attorney Jim Savitz, who re-ceived the Distinguished Citizen of Gaithers-burg Award for his 30 years of contributions to the community in numerous roles. City Councilmember Ryan Spiegel said that the award celebrates “the vitality and vibrancy of how Jim continues to serve the commu-nity.” His service on numerous boards over the past three decades includes the Gaithers-burg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, the Shady Grove Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, and the Market Square Adviso-ry Committee. For the past 10 years, Savitz has been on the Friends of Wells/Robertson House Board of Directors, serving two terms as president.

After saying that he “feels humbled when he hears about the contributions of others,” Savitz joked that his “greatest contribu-tion to the city is performing only once or twice a year” with his Reunion rock band. Reunion performed at the April 24 Den-im & Diamonds fundraiser for The Wells/

Robertson House.Jennie Howland, president of The Muddy

Branch Alliance, who together with a green army of volunteers works to protect the re-gion’s waterways, rounded out the extraor-dinary people honored on April 23. City Councilmember Cathy Drzyzgula presented the Outstanding Organization of Gaithers-burg Award to The Muddy Branch Alliance. Former Muddy Branch Alliance President Paul Hlavinka and members of the Muddy Branch Board were in attendance.

In a city of 66,300 residents that is now the eighth fast-growing city in America ac-cording to the U.S. Census Bureau, Gaith-ersburg’s people are dynamic and diverse. Beyond the “culture of community” that defines Gaithersburg—including its annu-al events like Oktoberfest at the Kentlands, the Winter Lights Festival, and the Gaithers-burg Book Festival--Mayor Ashman spoke of how growth is creating opportunity and challenge.

The city, he said, is increasing its core ser-vices to serve a larger population. A new po-lice department headquarters is in the works with a contract on a building on South Sum-mit Avenue.

A number of city facilities are benefit-ting from renovations, he continued, cit-ing the Gaithersburg Aquatic Center that opened last summer after extensive repairs and renovations; the Gaithersburg Upcoun-ty Senior Center, which will reopen with

a fitness room and under a new name, the Benjamin Gaither Center; Constitution Gar-dens at Brookes Avenue, which will reopen with new play spaces and a reading circle; the Casey Community Center, Miniature Golf Course and Water Park improvements; and the first eco-friendly synthetic turf field on the East Coast at Lakelands Park.

Opportunity is being enhanced by the city’s use of technology—a new Interactive Property Map tool on the city’s website, an enhanced permitting and planning portal that allows for the online review of plans, and growgaithersburg.com, the city’s Eco-nomic Development website. A new business incubator, LaunchLabs, could open as early as this summer.

With growth comes challenge, and Mayor Ashman addressed this, saying, “short-term

and long, we are faced with some serious challenges.” These include the redevelop-ment and revitalization of the east side of Gaithersburg, the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance and making sure that the city’s schools and roads are able to keep up with new development, the planned bus rapid transit and Corridor Cities Transitway, main-taining affordable housing options in the city, and new stormwater management require-ments to protect the Chesapeake Bay.

He assured those assembled for the address that the city is working to turn these chal-lenges into opportunity. As the city, founded in 1765, looks forward to its next 250 years, Mayor Ashman said, “We have our challeng-es, like everyone else, but we come together to face them and turn them into opportuni-ties.”

GPD Welcomes New OfficersFour new officers have joined the GPD

after completing the six-month 61st Mont-gomery County Police Academy. The graduates are Anthony Jones, Michelle Kirk, Peter Loiodice and Kimberly Shelley.

The academy helps to train officers who will serve departments in the county, Gaithersburg, Takoma Park, the sheriff ’s office and park police.

Upon their graduation, the officers will now begin 13 weeks of field training where they will ride with an officer before han-dling calls by themselves.

Prom/Graduation Safety TipsAs the school year winds to a close, many

local teens are looking forward to cutting loose and having fun at area PROMs and graduations. For parents who want to make

sure their kids remain safe on those nights, the GPD offers several safety tips.

• Parents should set clear rules about drinking and drug use. Let kids know the potential consequences if they ig-nore the rules.

• If parents host a part and the guests are under 21, there should be no alcohol served.

• For parents who have alcohol in the home, be sure to take an inventory of your supply and lock it up if possible.

• If your child is going out with friends, find out who is driving, how many people will be in the vehicle and if the driver has a license without restric-tions or a permit.

• When renting a limousine, check with the company to see if they have a poli-cy on alcohol inside the vehicle.

Police officers will be on the lookout for drivers who are impaired and other offenses.

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PoLiCeBeAT

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PoLiCeBLoTTer

n city address from page 4

hoodie, light colored baggie jeans and glasses with rectangular frames.

Arrest Made in Shaare Torah Hate Crime

Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Department and detectives from the Gaithersburg Police Department, with the assistance of the State’s Attorney’s Office, have arrested and charged Sebastian Espino-za-Carranza, age 18, of the 16700 block of Sioux Lane in Gaithersburg, with the April 7 vandalism of the Shaare Torah Synagogue

in Kentlands.On April 14 at approximately 11:30 p.m.,

Sebastian David Espinosa-Carranza met detectives at the 6th District Station for an interview. He was arrested and confessed to the crimes.

Sebastian David Espinosa-Carranza was transported to the Central Processing Unit and was charged with the following crimes: property damage to a religious in-stitution, defacement of a religious proper-ty, and malicious destruction of property over $1,000. Espinoza-Carranza has been released on bond.

Page 16 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

burg Arts Barn with “Magic & Mayhem” that combines storytelling, comedy, pup-petry, surrealism, philosophy and “that which cannot be defined” for a show packed full of laughs, mystery and the un-expected. Recommended for ages 12 and above. Tickets are $18, or $12 for youth (14 and under). www.gaithersburgmd.gov

Open Mic @ the MansionMay 1, 8-11 p.m., Kentlands Mansion

Sing, tell a joke, recite poetry. All un-plugged styles of music, poetry & perfor-mance welcome. Tickets are $10. www.gaithersburgmd.gov

Kentlands Acoustic JamMay 2, 9 a.m., Kentlands StarbucksMay 5, 6 p.m. Kentlands ClubhouseMay 9, 9:30 a.m., Kentlands Mansion

Bring your acoustic instrument and voice to join in the jam session, or just listen. Free. www.reverbnation.com/kentlandsacousticjam

Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime PlayersMay 2, 11 a.m., BlackRock Center for the Arts

Grammy-nominated Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players raise the bar for family music with a playground full of bright new songs for parents, grand-parents and kids to enjoy together. Tickets

are $15. www.blackrockcenter.org

7th Annual Active Aging ExpoMay 4, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Activity Center at Bohrer Park

Presented by Adventist HealthCare, the City of Gaithersburg’s Active Aging Expo is a day filled with energy, educa-tional talks, interactive demonstrations, fa-cials, massages, manicures, and preventive screenings. Fun activities include carica-ture drawings, tattoos and a photo booth. Free. www.gaithersburgmd.gov

‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’May 8-24, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m., Arts Barn

Presented by Sandy Spring Theatre Group, this bittersweet comedy is part one of Neil Simon’s autobiographical trilogy: a portrait of the writer as a young teen in 1937 living with his family in a crowd-ed, lower middle class Brooklyn walk-up. Dreaming of baseball and girls, Eugene must cope with the mundane existence of his family life in Brooklyn. Populated

with vivid characters, the play evocative-ly captures the life of a struggling Jewish household where, as his father states, “if you didn’t have a problem, you wouldn’t be living here.” Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for youth (14 & under). www.gaithers-burgmd.gov

UTSAV: A Celebration of IndiaMay 9, 1 & 2 p.m., Quince Orchard Library

Celebrate “Satrang - Colors of the Rain-bow.” Enjoy an afternoon of beautiful In-dian music, colorful dances and crafts, and a Penny Theatre puppet show, “Sam Who Never Forgets.” Free. Please register on-line for either 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library.

Tuesday Topics: Samuel ClemensMay 12, 7-8:30 p.m., Gaithersburg Community Museum

The museum continues its Tuesday Top-ics series with a discussion of the life and works of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Eighteen-year-old journalist Samuel Clemens’s first dispatch from Wash-

ington, D.C., was composed in February 1854. He would return to the city after the Civil War as “Mark Twain,” a westerner on the make as secretary to a Nevada sen-ator. With other newspapermen, including George Alfred Townsend, Twain formed the informal “Washington Syndicate,” which wired news from the capital city all across the country. While in Washing-ton he received his first book contract to write “The Innocents Abroad,” a collec-tion of essays, and in 1873 he published his first novel, “The Gilded Age,” which took the city to task. On one of his last visits in 1906, Twain testified about protecting the integrity of his work with a new copyright law. Tickets are $5. For information and to reserve a spot, please call 301.258.6160 or visit www.gaithersburgmd.gov.

Stroke PreventionMay 14, 1-2 p.m., Quince Orchard Library

Would you know the symptoms of a stroke if it happened to you or someone around you, and would you know how to respond? Join Suburban Hospital Heart-Well Nurse Leni Barry, RN-BC, BSN, MA, in a discussion about the facts on stroke. Program sponsored by Suburban Hospital and Friends of the Library, Quince Orchard Chapter. Light refreshments pro-vided. Free. Call 240.777.0200 for more information.

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7th Annual Kentlands Day CelebrationMay 2, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Kentlands Market Square and Vicinity

This great community event features a parade, kids’ activi-ties, a business fair, Taste of Kentlands and a car show! Free. www.kentlandsday.org

May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 17

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“This was a chance to give back to the community that supports them,” said Fo-ringer. “A life lesson: Never forget those who support you in whatever you are trying to accomplish.”

“I think it’s important for young people to know the importance of reading,” said Kel-ley. “They hear it every day from their teach-ers, but sometimes it’s good to hear it from someone else as well.”

Kelley and his football players also spoke at Brown Station and Fields Road elementary schools during National Library Week and aim next year to read at all of the QO cluster elementary schools.

“Kids look up to our players as role mod-els,” said Kelley. “If they see reading is im-portant to them as student-athletes, hopeful-ly they will think the same. Also, we receive a lot of community support here at QO. I believe we should return the favor in any way we can.”

The QO student-athletes echoed what their coaches said.

“It was meaningful to see how the children looked up to us as if we were pro players,” said Benji Bloom, a Cougar football player who read to kindergarten and second grade classes. “It’s weird to see how small we used to be and how much we’ve changed.”

“It meant a lot knowing that these kids

look up to us and wanted us to come and read to them and meet them,” said basketball play-er Matthew Kelly, who read a book on Babe Ruth to fourth graders.

His teammate, Johnny Fierstein, added, “I know it is important to show kids that read-ing is fun and to let them know that there are all different kinds of books available for every interest.” Fierstein read a book called “Teammates” to a fourth grade class. “I really enjoyed being a guest reader and would love to do it again.”

“It meant a lot to finally read back to the kids because growing up I got read to by the football players,” said football player Eisley Kim, a Rachel Carson alum who read to kindergarten, second-, and third-graders at Brown Station and Fields Road. “I idolized them and always wanted to be able to do that when I was older. Now that I am a QO foot-ball player and I got to read to the kids, I think it is really cool.”

Principal Chep said, “The students get to hear these ‘leaders in our community’ read to them and see and hear how important it is to read. They get to hear about their roles in the community and how reading affects their jobs, lives and their leisure time. We hope they convey the love of reading and the importance of reading. We also hope they learn something from the books, content that is read to them. The book or books read may spark an interest of a student, so it inspires him or her to read more.”

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AssignmenTeDuCATion

able learning spaces, protect health, foster wellness, and offer environmental education to boost academic achievement and commu-nity engagement.

Northwest High School has an active School Energy and Recycling Team (SERT) program that works to reduce the school’s energy consumption and increase recycling. Staff provide an integrated approach to learning by including environmental issues within the curriculum across all grade levels and core subjects. Students organize green activities in the school and the community throughout the year.

“The consistent work our Green Team does each and every day has led our students to live a “green” lifestyle which not only benefits our school, but also our community at large,” said E. Lancelloti (Lance) Dempsey, principal of Northwest High School. “This is truly an honor for our school and our com-

munity and I couldn’t be more proud.”

RCES Participates in Arbor Day Program

The City of Gaithersburg plants a tree in honor of Arbor Day at a local school each year. This year, Rachel Carson Elementary was the honored recipient of a red maple. Students and staff helped Gaithersburg May-or Jud Ashman plant the tree.

National Bike to School Day Is May 6On Wednesday, May 6, Bike Gaithers-

burg will work with Rachel Carson Ele-mentary School to hold RCES’ first bike train, an organized and supervised bike ride. The Bike train begins at Darnestown Road and Main Street at 7:45 a.m. Participants will ride along shared-use paths and side-walks to the school. Various stops will be made along the way.

Page 18 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

‘The Other Language’Written by Francesca Marciano

“A short story is like a kiss in the dark from

a stranger,” Stephen King once wrote. I must admit I wasn’t always a believer in the titillating impact of a short story, but I’m coming around, especial-ly after reading this won-derful collection by Francesca Marciano. “The Other Language” (2014) covers a lot of territory—from an island in Greece to the streets of Paris, around the world to India before coming back to Scotland. Marciano is a native Italian but is truly a citizen of the world, having lived for periods in European capitals, here in New York and New Mexico and in Kenya. She’s naturally nomadic, she tells interviewers. “I like to live out of my comfort zone.”

Marciano gives us richly drawn settings in which to watch her complex characters experience the challenges life has thrown at them. Besides her three earlier novels, she has also done screenwriting and that experience shows in her captivating scenes and easy dialogue. The settings are varied but the stories all involve relationships between men and women, with the focus on a woman. She is not interested in your garden-variety couples but rather she likes to explore

interactions between fathers and daughters in the title story or couples who meet coincidently over a lifetime in “Quantum Theory” or a famous rock star and the girl he left behind in “Roman Romance.”

In “Big Island, Small Island” an Italian woman, Stella, visits an old friend she hasn’t seen for 15 years who’s living on a tiny island off Sub-Saharan Africa. With a new religious identity and a child bride, his life is far different than what she had expected from her fun-loving pal.

In “The Presence of Men,” Lara’s renova-tion of an ancient house in a small village in southern Italy angers the neighbors, but her brother’s appearance with his client, a well-known actor, changes the dynamics of her relationship with the townspeople.

A serious car accident opens “Quantum Theory” and readers cannot be sure how the driver and passenger know one another. Sonia’s car has tumbled down a ravine and rolled over. She and her handsome passenger, a love interest we suspect, escape and walk barefoot through the bush to a hospital hand in hand.

“The Other Language” offers up something refreshing for those who generally stick to novels. These stories are longer than one might expect, richer and more captivating, making it a surprisingly satisfying reading experience.

Learning Curve III: The Road Less TraveledI n this, the last in-

stallment of the series chronicling the expe-

riences of having a teen driver, I leave you with one take-away.

I survived.Barely.The new graduated

driving program is pure genius. They not only weed out kids who aren’t ready to drive, they are shucking parents by the wayside as well.

The hardiest of souls are rewarded with a new photo ID and freedom. We parents should get a medal or a t-shirt or some-thing.

But I deserve more. Really.Because our journey to licensure had

twists, turns, tears, torture and trauma un-like anyone in the history of ever. Trust me when I say we almost broke the system entirely.

It all started with the mail. Two days af-ter receiving Mac’s learner’s permit, a card came in the mail with a new ID number. The accompanying letter gave no expla-nation. It simply told us to keep that card

with us at all times.I was super-psyched because I am always

searching for more things to keep track of …

NOT.So we put it in the glove compartment

and forgot about it. That is, until I tried to schedule Mac’s driving test.

For the AARP generation like me, the automation of the DMV is a thing of won-der. They practically etched my license in stone like the Ten Commandments.

So the fact that I could schedule the test months in advance online was magical. Until it wasn’t. Central Scheduling wanted nothing to do with me. Every time I went in the system, I got an error message.

Being generally tech-challenged, I al-ways assume a computer glitch is all on me. So I kept trying and failing over and over again for weeks.

I finally bit the bullet and called the 800 number on the Rookie Driver website. The hold message touted the benefits of online Central Scheduling, which made me want to punch someone through the phone.

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n first Person Continued on page 21

By Mauren Stiles

firsTPerson

reADer’sChoiCe

By Betty Hafner

May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 19

The gym has recent equipment upgrades and newly added classes. Information about Foundry Fitness  can be found  at www.foundryfitnessmd.com and on their facebook page, facebook.com/FoundryFitnessMD. For any questions, please contact the gym at 240.478.0253.

Nalley Fresh Is Coming Soon to Kentlands Square

Diana Shipley, leasing agent for Saul Cen-ters, said that Nalley Fresh will be coming soon to the 1800-square-foot space next door to The Hair Cuttery. Nalley Fresh is a salad, bowl and wrap concept restaurant from Baltimore.

ALDI Holds Grand Opening May 15On Friday, May 15, 9 a.m., the low-price

grocery ALDI will hold a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at 608 Quince Or-chard Road. The first 100 shoppers in line that day will receive golden tickets, with each ticket containing an ALDI gift certif-icate of a different value. Shoppers also will be invited to enter a Produce-for-a-Year Sweepstakes and sample products.

Venti Tre Closed at Downtown Crown

Venti Tre Modern Italian, which opened at 128 Ellington Blvd. in Downtown Crown on Sept. 9, has closed. This follows the local chain’s early February closing of their restau-rant at Canton Crossing in Baltimore.

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mersed in the movement and the music. “I literally followed in my mother’s footsteps,” she said. With reverence, she recalls the Per-sian costume her late grandmother made for her back then. “My mother and grandmother were strong, open-minded, entrepreneurial women,” Mills said. “I am proud of who I have become because of them.”

The 1979 revolution in Iran, which brought the religious extremists to power, drove many Iranian citizens to flee the coun-try. As such, Mills traveled to Switzerland and Istanbul, and finally, at 14, went to live with an aunt in Maryland and was separated from her nuclear family for two years. The teenager attended Richard Montgomery High School and Montgomery College, and continued to dance at family gatherings.

Encouraged by friends and family, espe-cially her mother, Mills began to take dance more seriously as a young adult. She com-peted in a 1997 belly dancing competition and performed at the Taj Mahal Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., in 2000. Her husband built a dance studio in their Dar-nestown home in 2005 so she could teach and still be home with her two young sons. Five years later, when her clients exceeded that space, she moved her studio to the Kent-lands, originally occupying all three levels of the building, employing 12 instructors and three trainers, and offering multiple class and training formats.

Sadly, several dire events took place in that time period that caused Mills “to drown in stress.” Her beloved grandmother passed

away and a local cousin was murdered. And six months after opening Studio Booseh, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “They caught it early, and it was non-aggressive and non-hormonal,” she said. Mills kept on dancing until her mastectomy and was back at it two weeks later.

Afterwards, challenged by expensive rent, running a business, teaching five classes a week and being a mother, Mills decid-ed to simplify. She downsized to one cozy, mirrored, wood-floored studio with a bar, two other instructors and only six classes a week—two beginner belly dancing, two ad-vanced and two Zumba. Mills teaches three classes, and also performs, solo as well as with her Booseh troupe.

Belly dance, despite being the easiest word to identify the style in the Western world, is somewhat of a misnomer; it likely gets its name from the mid-section undulations characteristic of raghse sharghi, literally “oriental dancing,” the classical Egyptian style of dance taught at Studio Booseh. As a certified personal/group fitness trainer who has worked at Sport & Health and Lifetime Fitness, and a Beyond Barre instructor, Mills also has incorporated facets of both regimens into her dance classes.

Mills believes that in addition to its cardio-respiratory and muscle strengthening ben-efits, belly dance is a “release from mental, spiritual and physical issues. … (It enhances) how you carry yourself and your body. You should create activity in the body God has given you and blessed you with.”

Students go barefoot in the studio, and don hip-scarves from Mills’ collection. To the sounds of traditional Middle Eastern

music, she starts beginners with standing hip circles, and proceeds to the first steps of developing a strong foundation: “learning to separate the upper and lower halves of the body, and the left and right sides of the body,” she said. “I introduce students to their bodies, awaken their muscles. They learn to isolate the shoulders, the chest.” Each class is different, she said, and involves four or five sets of repeated choreography.

Eventually, dancers progress to what Mills calls the Shakira or Maya move, figure eights with the hips going to the side, the back or front; the shimmy, travel steps, turns and spins, undulations, even balletic moves such as relevés and pliés. Advanced students may use props like a walking cane or the veil, which involves creating various shapes via movement of the arms, upper body and stomach. In six to seven months of four class-es a week, Mills said most women can be-come a student performer in her troupe.

When Mills said, “I am blessed with a family of wonderful people,” she includes her clients, with whom she enjoys a mutu-al “honest connection, compassion, an ex-change of energy.”

“I give nothing but love,” she maintained. “Since my cancer, nothing really matters other than everyone’s health.”

Studio Booseh is at 420 Main St. in the Kentlands. Enter through a door at the rear of the building, and walk downstairs. Visit studiobooseh.com or call 301.579.3344. To redeem an offer for three classes at $25, go to livingsocial.com. Mills also offers skin care, nutrition coaching and permanent makeup in a separate room in her studio.

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Page 20 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

The Age of Adaline (PG-13) ***The effectiveness of a

romantic fantasy based on eternal life for one of the members of the romance depends so much on the plotting that one holds one’s breath for about two hours wondering if they’re going to do it right. The climax is the thing. In “Adaline,” everything is acceptable and that may be the problem, ultimately, with this pictorially excellent film. Blake Lively, famous for her role in “Gossip Girls” on TV, is in with an older crowd in a MUCH older setting. She is re-born at 107, for heaven’s sake, is generally excellent and always attractive, trapped as she is in a late-20s body after an astound-ingly complicated accident. That accident leaves her incapable of aging, resulting in a daughter who is in her 70s (Ellen Burstyn) and a former love who is also in his late 70s. (Harrison Ford). We are left with no reasonable explanation why she should be 107 and he 77, but that’s just one problem with the script.

She is left with eternal life after the ac-cident but eternal fear that she will be dis-covered and exposed as a freak. (Adaline

knows her modern media!) This leads to a mysterious existence, no sense of loyalty or permanence and six locks on her front door. We meet her as “Jennifer Larson,” working as a librarian in San Francisco. We have learned her secret from, of all the hokey means, an old newsreel found in a library that gives us her entire backstory, narrated! This is an inexplicable choice by the writers who could have stretched out the explanation with a bit more mystery. The choice was clearly made in the interest of efficiency and leaves the audience in full possession of the details before any of the cast realizes them.

Perhaps her background and circum-stance can excuse Jennifer/Adaline and her ultra-coolness toward everybody she meets, a coolness that is broken by Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman), an accidental entrepreneur, with whom she strikes up a relationship. Unfortunately for her and for believability, Ellis’ father is Adaline’s true love, formed when she was in her 20s ei-ther before or after the death of her hus-band early in their marriage. (Clarity of time is not a strong point in this film.) She was in England, studying French (that’s what they said, folks) when William (even-tually played by Harrison Ford but acted first by Richard Ingruber, an uncannily

likely younger Ford) fixes her stalled car on a backcountry English road.

It is the combination of William as Ford who recognizes her, and her love for Ellis that turn the story into its somewhat hokey finale. There is a flash of lightning like the one that started Adaline’s immortality, and we move swiftly to the conclusion. One would have preferred the ending to be more human, but it is a fantasy after all, so they have to play by fantasy’s rules.

For such an elegant romance, I kept wondering if it was my fault that I was not moved by the characters and what they had to go through in order to bring this off. Then I realized that Adaline is the only one whose suffering is forced by circum-stance and her condition. Everybody else could have coped just fine. This is a slow-paced, low-intensity romance and the kids will get bored with it, but adults might like to play the fantasy game along with the characters and try to figure out what they would do if their mate suddenly turned out to be 80 years older than they thought. Unfortunately, nobody in the film is giv-en enough time with the real Adaline to prove what they would have done.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (PG) 0Fortunately, I cannot remember all the

unfunny comedies I have seen, but of the ones I have seen and can remember, this has to be the unfunniest, uncoolest, most badly timed (I can go on but will spare you), absolutely worst filmed “comedy” I have ever seen. The first Blart effort several years ago was lame, but this … well, there is not an alleged funny scene that works, the slapstick is old and ineffective, and the characters are universally ugly or warped in an unfunny way. Blart falls for the gor-geous Divina (Daniella Alonso), whose “crush” on Blart makes no sense at all, so at least their scenes are logical by the logic of this disaster.

There are laugh breaks built into scenes that are not going to get the expected or desired laughs and most scenes go on far too long, including a fight with a rare bird, a keynote speech that is likewise too long and a “recovery” from hypoglycemia in-volving a far-too-lengthy use of an ice cream cone as a source of sugar.

Having said that this is honestly the least funny comedy I have ever seen, there is not much more to say. You may not catch a disease from seeing this, but I wouldn’t guarantee it. Avoid it at all costs and re-member who was responsible: Kevin James and Adam Sandler, producer. A deadly combination.

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mikeAT The moVies

By Mike Cuthbert

Professional Service Directory

May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 21

Every rep said the same thing. I was doing something incorrectly. Blah Blah. It was too soon for me to schedule some-thing, and they had no time for me. More blah blah.

Each time I called, I limped away, licking my wounds, still waiting for an appoint-ment and still wanting to punch someone.

After two months of banging my head and some serious self-esteem issues, my mama bear kicked in. My cub was getting his license even if I had to roar and kick up some dust.

Finally, a nice, patient DMV employee stuck with me, found Mac and scheduled us in Cumberland, Maryland, for our test. I snatched up that appointment despite the distance. What is a 2-hour drive when you have already invested 3,000 man hours in obtaining said appointment?

Throughout the 60 or so days devoted to this, I spoke with countless people in various departments. Apparently someone along the way sent an internal email to Customer Service about our situation.

Take a minute and read that last sentence again. Let it really sink in.

CUSTOMER SERVICEThe MVA—best known for their abun-

dance of crappy customer relations over the years—has a Customer Service division. Who knew?

I know. And I know because they called me and desperately wanted to assist me. Are you still standing? Do you feel faint?

This is a lot to take in. Heady stuff.They left a message with a number. And

a name. This development was like discov-ering the secret recipe to Coca-Cola. The telephone numbers of the local DMV offic-es are unlisted. Everything is centralized so you can’t go postal on the employees unless you are willing to drive there, circle for a parking space, take a number and then do it.

See, this is precisely the kind of infor-mation frustrated employees divulge when you are singlehandedly bringing an orga-nization to its knees.

I went from zero to hero in record time. This lovely customer service rep had nev-er seen anything like this snafu. Even with my appointment confirmation number, she still could not find us in the system.

But, like a dog with a bone, she was not letting go. After a stream of sighs and endless tapping of her keyboard wafting through the phone, we were penciled in for an 8:30 a.m. appointment in Gaithers-burg (5 minutes from home) a day earlier than the original appointment.

I didn’t want to punch anyone!I asked if there was a survey or some

way I could convey my satisfaction with her work. But of course, the one time you want a survey, there is nothing. I guess in most cases, a survey for the DMV is like a grenade.—explosive and damaging.

We arrived nervous and giddy the day of the test. We watched the woman in front of us McGyver her brake light through the

trunk in order to get her daughter on the test course.

When you get that far, when you are in that queue, you are not going to let some stupid mechanical malfunction stop you. You would climb in that trunk, risk suf-focation and hold that brake light wire for the duration of your kid’s test, just to never have to return to the DMV again.

We checked and rechecked our paper-work, assessed the demeanor of the testers and waited in the black metal chairs for an eternity. There may have been some rosary beads I will never cop to.

The car passed inspection without me having to perform any CPR or heroic life-saving measures, so I was feeling optimis-tic.

Mistake. BIG MISTAKE.The tester asked to speak with me. He

plopped his little computer on the trunk of the car and told me to look at the screen. There was the face of my sweet, angelic son circa 2007. The only picture of him that was in the system. Next to it, his vitals were all correct including current height and weight.

From what I could understand, the prob-lem originated with an ID card the DMV had issued to Mac as proof of age for foot-ball when he was 9. They used that ID number instead of generating a new one with his Learners.

It was like those freakish apps where you can blend the features of two people and see what their kids will look like. Mac was

an MVA mash-up. His Learners Permit pic was nowhere to be found.

Thus, the amended card in the mail. Thus, the confusion of the employees who pulled up Mac’s ID and saw my 9 year-old and told me it was too early to call. Thus, the loss of my sanity.

The tester predicted this was going to make issuing him a license very difficult indeed. With Mac nervously staring at me through the rearview mirror, I had to keep a smile plastered on my face to ward off his total panic as my heart raced.

I am sure I didn’t breathe the entire time he was tested. His face told me he passed before I could even ask him.

Phew.In the cubicle, Mac got his photo tak-

en. And then we waited. Supervisors shuf-fled in and out, conferences ensued, we watched all the other teens get their licens-es and leave, and Mac signed his name on the little line in the little box no less than six times.

After a full hour of computer manipula-tion, the printer spat out a shiny, laminated license with the correct picture and vitals. We immediately RAN for the exit.

We had been in the trenches, fought the war and lived to tell the tale. But as Mac confidently maneuvered the car toward breakfast, the reality of his newfound free-dom hit me. Hard.

Judging by the smile on his face, one of us clearly thought we were on easy street.

Ugh-oh …

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Page 22 The Town Courier May 1, 2015

SporTSBy Mac Kennedy

W ith just four games remaining in the 2015 season, the Quince Orchard baseball team has so far

suffered only one loss to Paint Branch on April 11. Just four games have been de-cided by less than five runs, and QO can thank their pitching for the dominating play this year. The team’s average ERA is a very low 1.23 with a nearly perfect win loss percentage of .933. The pitch-ing across the board has been tremendous-ly strong with seniors Sam Williams and Kevin Childs and junior Jack Ropelews-ki, all with three wins. Four times the Cougars have finished a game shutting out their opponent along with giving up just one run in five games.

The high volume of scoring, howev-er, can only be attributed to the explo-sive offense. The Cougars have scored double-digit runs in eight out of their 15 games. Seven players have a batting av-erage over .300 as Ropelewski leads the team with a .452 average followed by ju-nior Matt Lowinger at .417. As for hitting in runs, senior Sam Sprecher and juniors Ropelewski and Carson Knight all have double-digit RBIs.

All season long QO has been able to rely on a batting order full of hitters. The strong balance at the plate has led to a team batting average of .311.

Given the current overall record of 14-1 and a region record of 9-0, the Cougars have high expectations for the postsea-son. It looks as though QO will be able to keep up their tough pitching and big bats heading into the playoffs due to their

consistency all season. QO is not led by one or two star players; they have a strong balance at every position and a deep roster full of mostly upper classmen. The four seniors Sprecher, Childs, Williams and Nate Kessler have not only led their team by example on the field, but Coach Jim Gasaway believes they have shown great leadership to a roster full of mostly juniors and one sophomore.

Their pitching rotation includes multi-ple potential starters who all have proven they are ready for the big stage. Having depth on the mound will play a crucial role in the remainder of the year.

The Cougars have just five games re-maining before the playoffs start. Their last home game is on May 1 against Ma-gruder High School, and they fin-ish the year off at Northwood High School on May 4. The Cougars find themselves ranked seventh in the state of Maryland.

Cougar Baseball Rolls Through Opponents

Photo | Mac Kennedy

nate Kessler (no. 3) and sam sprecher (no. 1) take on Magruder april 10 at home with their cougar varsity team.

Quince Orchard Lacrosse on Fire, Northwest Holds Ground

By Ethan Cadeaux

O ver the past couple of weeks, Quince Orchard boys’ lacrosse has been play-ing their best in a long time. They

defeated annual powerhouse and state cham-pionship contender Wootton High School 8-4 last week, and have won 11 of their first 12 games.

The Cougars were once again led by their star Jake Christensen against Wootton, who scored four times and assisted on another Cougar goal. Christensen won player of the week, totaling 25 points in three games.

The Northwest boys have been just as good as of late. The Jaguars have won three out of their last four games, including an 11-10 victory over rival Magruder in over-time. The Jaguars posted their first shutout in school history on Saturday, as they defeat-ed Paint Branch 14-0.

As there are two games left for both teams in the season, both teams are preparing to make a long postseason run. Quince Or-chard expects nothing less than a state cham-pionship, while Northwest is hoping to build off their first playoff victory last year.

The Cougars finish their season out against the county’s best, facing undefeat-

ed Churchill on Thursday in the Cougar Dome. Next, they will face 9-3 Pooles-ville on Senior Day, which is Saturday, May 2. The Jaguars finish against two tough teams, Blake on Wednesday for Senior Night and Whitman on May 1.

The Jaguars will be without star attack-man Hunter Thompson, who tore his MCL and meniscus, for the rest of the season.

“It really isn’t the same playing with-out Hunter,” said senior midi Cory Hatha-way. “I wish he were still playing with me and my boys.”

Regardless, first year coach Jon Krav-itz has had more success than any previous Northwest coach, and will look for Hatha-way, senior Collin Mandel, and sophomores Cole Notari and Doug Haller to pick up the scoring Thompson left behind.

On the girls’ side, Quince Orchard has had continued success this season. The Lady Cougars are 7-3 after dropping their last two games, and they have tough games against Churchill and Poolesville left. They look to get back on track in order to be at their best for playoffs.

After a slow start, Northwest girls have won four out of five games. The Lady Jag-uars’ record is close to .500 again.

Cougar Softball Pitches HardBy Mac Kennedy

A fter a nice start of the season from the Quince Orchard softball team, the Cougars have run into some trouble as

of late. QO came out of the gate strong win-ning their first three games, but hasn’t been able to keep that momentum going. Since the 3-0 start, the Cougars have slipped to a 2-6 record, but the team is still optimistic about the rest of the season.

Coach Colleen Kelly has seen a lot of great play out of her team, from both the offen-sive and defensive side. “Pitching has con-tinued to do well with both Nicole Beisner and Sydney Maxwell sharing time on the mound and doing great,” she said. “We have just been making some mistakes in the field at key times to allow teams to get extra runs.” Kelly believes these mistakes are fixable, and she remains confident in her team’s ability on defense.

The Cougars have been able to find some great success at the plate, but they fall short in hitting runners home. Although “our hitting has continued to do well and we are getting on base consistently, sometimes (we) have

trouble getting the runners in,” explained Kelly. This can be seen in their high batting average of .429 and high on-base percentage at .519.

There have been some stand-out games this season. On April 10 at Walter Johnson High School, the Cougars put together 22 runs in a shutout victory. Then on April 18 at Wootton High School, QO finished with 13 runs in another big victory.

If QO can continue to put bats on balls, the runs are sure to come. Freshman Sydney Trice, sophomores Morgan Kuiper and Ni-cole Beisner, junior Sydney Maxwell, and se-nior Julia Grinberg all have batting averages over .500, followed by three more teammates with over a .400 average. The offensive pro-duction from the Cougars has been key all year and needs to continue at a high volume for QO to pull out some more wins in the final stretch of the season.

Coach Kelly feels good about her team as they close out the year. The strong play as of recent is “a great sign as we push through the end of our season,” she said. QO will work on fixing some fielding mistakes at practice, which will lead to a more well-rounded team.

May 1, 2015 The Town Courier Page 23

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