Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Vol. 17, No. 1 January 17, 2020www.towncourier.com
Gaithersburg’s Hometown Newspaper | Serving Kentlands, Lakelands, Quince Orchard Park and More
THETOWN
The
Tow
n C
ou
rie
r2
32
9 D
ixon
Roa
dFr
eder
ick,
MD
21
70
4
PRSR
T-ST
D U.
S. P
OSTA
GE P
AID
GAIT
HERS
BURG
, MD
Perm
it #1
722 Holocaust Survivor Values Hard Work and
Acceptance as the Keys to Living a Good LifeBy Alex Stavitsky-Zeineddin
U krainian Holocaust survivor Maya Krakovsky, 84, was deeply saddened by the re-
cent violent attack on Jews in New York as 2019 drew to a close, and the Jewish Hanukkah eight-day festival of lights ended.
Krakovsky has survived so much sadness and loss throughout her years. Yet, she also has tremen-dous inner strength and resilience that drove her to immigrate to the United States with her mother, her husband, Rafael, daughter, Po-lina, and son, Alex, in May 1980 from Ukraine. She currently lives in Kentlands with her son, daugh-
ter-in law, Jackie, and grand-daughter Samantha.
Krakovsky sat down to tell The Town Courier her story of how she survived the mass killing of Jews in Ukraine during World War II and how she eventually immigrated to the United States.
“It was with great fear and sad-ness that we received the news that our town, Liubar, was bombed by Hitler,” said Krakovsky. She remembers her family and neigh-bors’ mass exodus on foot and from the town where her father, grandfather and other men were massacred by the Nazis in 1941. Five at the time, she remembers Photo | Alex Stavitsky-Zeineddin
Kentlands resident Maya Krakovsky survived the mass killing of Jews in Ukraine during World War II and built a new life with her family, eventually immigrating to the United States.n KRAKOVSKY continues on page 4
Gaithersburg READS! Launches With Homegrown Author’s New Novel
By Ellyn Wexler
T he City of Gaithersburg’s new community-wide initiative, “Gaithersburg
READS!”, will begin with a novel by a native daughter. The plan is for all participants to read “American Dirt,” due out Jan. 21, and for its author, Jeanine Cum-mins, to return to her alma ma-ter, Gaithersburg High School, on March 31 for a discussion and signing.
Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ash-
man, who conceived of and ini-tiated the annual Gaithersburg Book Festival in 2010, noted that Cummins was a featured author at the 2013 event. “Last June, when my author recruitment team saw how ‘American Dirt’ was being received and buzzed-about at Book Expo America (the largest book industry trade show of the year) … we thought we could possibly put together a spe-cial event,” he recalled.
Photo | Submitted
Look for “American Dirt,” written by Gaithersburg native Jeanine Cummins, when it comes out on Jan. 21.
n ‘AMERICAN DIRT’ continues on page 5
MCPS MCCPTA Hosts Mental Health and Wellness Forum
By Jennifer Beekman
F or four hours on Jan. 11, more than 400 Montgom-ery County Public Schools
students, parents and educators gathered at Earle B. Wood Middle School for the third annual MCPS Montgomery County Council of PTA (MCCPTA) Mental Health and Wellness Forum to discuss and learn about mental health. And that—having a conversation—is the best way to decrease the stigma still associated with talking about mental health, said Rachel Larkin, director of crisis prevention and intervention at Rockville-based EveryMind.
MCCPTA Health and Safety Committee Chair Sunil Dasgupta,
PhD said he had three main objec-tives in mind when first launching the forum three years ago. Aside from mitigating the stigma asso-ciated with mental health issues, the goal, he said, is to connect students, families and MCPS staff with the available resources and to build a coalition that will demand greater support for youth health and wellness within the county.
“In many cultures, we’re taught to hold (mental health struggles) close to our chest,” Dasgupta said. “We want people to be able to stand up and say, ‘I have a problem, please help me.’”
This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Raymond Crowel, a clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of experience who is now
serving as director of the Mont-gomery County Department of Health and Human Services. Breakout sessions included “Teen Depression and Suicide Ideation,” “I Need Help Now: Accessing Care and Respond-ing” and “Youth Panel on Cross-Cultural Mental Health Challenges.”
The day also included a free eight-hour Mental Health First Aid training course, a princi-pals-only workshop—“How to Make Your School Trau-ma-informed”—a resource fair and “What’s Hiding in Your Home,” an opportunity for adults to step into a mock teen bedroom trailer to learn more about picking up on signs their teen might be at risk. This year’s event concluded with “Student Talkback” during which stu-dent representatives addressed common challenges and trends among their peers.
“It’s very important to reg-ularly ask your child whether he or she is depressed; a direct question, with empathy and care,” Dasgupta said. “Follow-ing that I recommend parents hear what other kids are saying.
Photo | Sunil Dasgupta
The third annual MCPS MCCPTA Health and Wellness Forum, held at the Earle B. Wood Middle School, featured a student panel.
n WELLNESS continues on page 6
Page 2 THE TOWN COURIER January 17, 2020
Thinking of Buying or Selling? Call Us Today
Elaine [email protected]
Kentlands Office189 Kentlands Blvd.
Gaithersburg, MD 20878301-975-9500
Your Neighborhood Real Estate Team
12700 Young LanePotomac Chase | $925,000
9070 Clendenin WayUrbana | $499,999
5 Turnham CtNorth Potomac | $669,900
207 Massbury StKentlands | $1,095,000
31A Golden Ash WayLakelands | $385,000
15513 Quince Valley TerNorth Potomac | $659,900
93 Golden Ash WayLakelands | $614,900
707 Lake Varuna DrLakelands | $749,900
SOLD
FOR SALE FOR SALE
SOLD SOLD SOLD
PENDING PENDING
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with us! We have a great selection of Cards!
We also o�er shredding services for
confidential documents.
Ask for more details!
301.990.1070 or [email protected] or [email protected] Kentlands Blvd, Gaithersburg, MD 20878 (Kentlands Square, next to BB&T Bank)
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Valentines day AD.pdf 1 12/16/18 9:15 PM
January 17, 2020 THE TOWN COURIER Page 3
LETTERTO THE EDITOR
COMMUNITYLakelands Resident Publishes Book of Poetry
By Gina Gallucci-White
O ne of Megan Prikhodko’s bucket list items was to edit a book. She achieved this goal several years ago,
and the experience led the Lakelands resi-dent to publishing a book of her very own.
“Leap” is a collection of 15 years of poet-ry and prose divided into six chapters span-ning the areas of childhood, self-awareness, pain, love, success and adult life. She was inspired to create her narrative by looking at modern poetry writers’ work and how they group poems based on subject matter to tell a story within the poetry book itself.
“I felt like I could group the poems based on a story of the physics of a leap,” Prik-hodko said. “The first part is the starting place and you go all the way through mo-mentum and friction, force to the point where you are flying and then landing. It is both a figurative and a literal arc within the story. ... I felt a lot of the poetry was about taking risks or taking those leaps of faith in different parts of my life.”
Prikhodko has been writing poetry since she was in second grade. “I just always had the sense that writing is a really cathar-tic way of expressing yourself and getting things out,” she said.
She graduated from the University of Maryland with dual degrees in English and literature and philosophy with a concen-tration in creative writing. While earning her MBA at Johns Hopkins University, she befriended North Bethesda resident John Lim, whom she worked with on group projects and papers.
“Megan just had a natural ability not only to write but edit,” Lim said.
During their master’s program, Prikhod-
ko told Lim of her desire to edit a book. “It was funny because most people would say ‘write a book,’ but for her it was ‘edit a book,’” he recalled.
Fast forward more than five years later to 2017: Lim, along with co-author Andy Bray, was finishing up his first book, “Mak-ing Fake Star Trek” that covered how the two actors helped to create an independent film dedicated to the famous sci-fi fran-chise. Lim recalled his conversation with Prikhodko and asked her to edit the book.
“It was wonderful working with her,” he said. “... Throughout this (editing) time I said to Megan, ‘You know, you should really think about writing your book. You are so talented, and I can see how gifted you are with prose and language.’”
By going through the publishing process with Lim on the first book and now its se-quel coming out on Feb. 14, she realized it wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be. “I had this back catalog of poetry that I could shape up and revise and bring new life to,” she said.
Self published in November, the 102-page book is available on Amazon. Prik-hodko noted it was an interesting expe-rience going back and reading poems she created while in high school. Yet publish-ing poems written recently were harder for her than ones when she was younger because she had more distance from these experiences.
“I think anytime you are producing a poetry book, whether the poetry is new or old, you are really being very vulner-able because you are putting a lot of your personality and yourself out there and your raw emotions,” Prikhodko said.
Lim notes “Leap” gave him the opportu-nity to get to see another side of his friend. He knows her as an executive of a software company, a freelance editor, a mother and a wife.
“To read work from age 15 and to see a side of her that you don’t always get to see in another person, I thought was re-ally interesting,” he said. “... I loved the fact Megan wrote poems about everyday things—sitting in a classroom waiting for a class to start, sitting in a business meet-ing—the day-to-day, everyday life events that we all experience. A lot of those res-onated with me. I was able to understand these are events that I have experienced, but to see them written out in such an in-teresting way and such an expressive way, that was what I really enjoyed about it.”
Prikhodko hopes that people take away the feeling that if they want to create some-thing, they have the ability to do so. “They should feel empowered to be creative and vulnerable and that can be well received,” she said.
A Call for ‘Inclusive Prosperity’ With the City elections firmly be-
hind us and as we embark on a new year, I call on the Mayor and City Council to focus 2020 on the pursuit of an economic development strategy that is centered around the advancement of “inclusive prosperity.”
What do I mean by “inclusive pros-perity?” It is predicated on the notion that maximizing growth (aimed at at-tracting new residents and businesses) and maximizing opportunity (aimed at supporting current residents and busi-nesses) need not, and should not, be a mutually exclusive, “either/or” propo-sition. Instead, it is imperative that both be pursued simultaneously so that one has the ability to reinforce the other. By focusing exclusively on maximizing growth, the City may find itself exac-erbating already pre-existing racial and economic disparities (as apparent in the results of the City’s Visioning Exer-cise), potentially making the City less attractive to new residents and busi-nesses. However, by focusing exclu-sively on maximizing opportunity, the City unequivocally would lose out on new investments that could help bolster the prospects of current residents and businesses.
There are many creative ways in which the City could promote “inclu-sive prosperity,” not least of which is through public procurement. In fact, with the millions of dollars that the City spends annually on goods and services across its various departments, the promotion of a more equitable contracting and procurement process could perhaps do more to advance “in-clusive prosperity” than any other tool that the City has at its disposal. It is easy to forget just how important sup-port from the public sector has been, and continues to be, to the success of many of our champion industries. Is it any small wonder why the City, with its proximity to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has become such a haven for biotechnology? (As the largest public funder of biomedical research world-wide, NIH alone invests more than $32 billion each year through grants and other financial backing.)
In much the same way, many compa-nies across the DC metropolitan region (and even beyond) obtain a significant portion of their annual business from City contracting, enabling them to generate the revenue necessary to hire additional employees, purchase new equipment, and make other invest-
n LETTER continues on page 4
Chanukah Fire Truck Parade Returns for 16th Year
The Chanukah Fire Truck Parade made its fourth stop in Kentlands Market Square on Monday, Dec. 23, bringing live music and singing, fire jugglers and the Rockville Vol-unteer Fire Department fire truck decorated with a four-foot meno-rah. This local Chanukah tradition has been organized each year since 2003 by Chabad Lubavitch of Upper Montgomery County. After depart-
ing from the Rockville Fire Station on Hungerford Drive, the parade made stops in Falls Grove, Potomac Woods, Washingtonian Woods and Kentlands Market Square. Each stop featured a 10-minute show. The pa-rade concluded at Chanukah Won-derland, located at the new Simcha Educational Center on Dufief Mill Road, where the six-foot commu-nity menorah was lit and there was more entertainment, followed by a party.
Photo | Jack Hartzman
Top: Rabbi Sholom Raichik looks on as a fire juggler entertains the crowd during the Chanukah Fire Truck Parade, presented each year by Chabad Lubavitch of Upper Montgomery County.
Photo | Jack Hartzman
Left: Large crowds gathered at each stop in the Dec. 23 Chanukah Fire Truck Parade, organized by Chabad Lubavitch of Upper Mont-gomery County. Rabbi Sholom Raichik is pictured here (center) with those gathered in Kentlands Market Square.
Page 4 THE TOWN COURIER January 17, 2020
2329 Dixon RoadFrederick, MD 21704
For Advertising: 301.455.5721For Editorial: 240.418.4350
Also on the Web at www.towncourier.com.
©2020 Town Courier LLCThe Town Courier is an independent newspa-
per 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 Town Courier LLC, which is responsible for the form, content and policies of the newspaper. The Town Courier does not espouse any political belief or endorse any product or service in its news coverage. Articles and letters submitted for publication must be signed and may be edited for length or content. The Town Courier is not responsi-ble 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 Editor & Publisher
240.418.4350 [email protected]
Alex Stavitsky-Zeineddin News Editor
Vincent Bono Advertising Sales 240.702.5090
Photographers Phil Fabrizio Mac Kennedy Brent Pernak
Social Media
Consultant Mac Kennedy
Writers Jennifer Beekman
Marylou Bono Mike Cuthbert
Gina Gallucci-White Sheilah Kaufman Karen O’Keefe
Syl Sobel Maureen Stiles Jack Toomey Ellyn Wexler
Student Writers Adam Gotkin
Kendall Lumsden Anya Sesay Ben Strober
Designed by Electronic Ink | Leesburg, VA
ments essential for growth. However, because bidding for local procure-ment projects can be a cumbersome, tedious, and expensive process, many of the City’s own small business enter-prises (SBEs), particularly those owned by women and people of color, fail to take advantage of these opportunities, or lose out to larger companies when they attempt to do so.
The City can change this dynamic by making a concerted effort to “lev-el the playing field” in the procure-ment process. In this regard, the City should consider setting equity targets for SBEs; streamlining certification processes (and providing resources to SBEs to become certified); unbun-dling large contracts into smaller, more manageable subcontracts; help-ing subcontractors become prime con-tractors; and reducing or eliminating financial burdens, such as excessive bonding or insurance requirements. The City also should consider col-laborating with its anchor institutions on undertaking any of the above ini-tiatives, as they too are likely to have their own procurement programs and would welcome the backing and sup-port of the City on advancing this en-deavor.
In doing so, the City could better assist SBEs realize their full potential, which would increase not only the net worth for its owners, but also, because of their proclivity to hire and invest their capital locally, the overall eco-nomic activity of our entire commu-nity. At the same time, the City would be able to show prospective employers that it has reliable SBEs from which they also can solicit needed goods and services, adding that benefit to the al-ready long list of reasons why Gaith-ersburg is a great place to start and grow your business.
—Jason Wilcox, Kentlands resident and member of the City of Gaithersburg
Educational Enrichment Committee
Have something to say? We’d love to hear it. Send letters to [email protected].
n LETTER from page 3
hiding from the airplanes that were firing machine guns in the tall, unharvested wheat fields with her mother, sister, Ana, and many others. “My mother broke her arm, and we went to a hospital where they then told us that we should leave as the Germans were coming and would kill us,” said Krakovsky.
Liubar is 175 miles southwest of Ukraine’s capital, Kiev. At the end of the 19th centu-ry, more than 40 percent of the population was Jewish. In July 1941, the German army occupied the town. An estimated 1.5 mil-lion Jews died during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine, which lasted until spring 1944 when the Soviet Red Army took control of all of Ukraine.
Krakovsky knows that somehow she and her mother and sister found their way onto a cattle train that took them from Ukraine to Uzbekistan, the route she took to escape Ukraine.
They went all the way to Uzbekistan, near Tashkent on this train. “I was sick, and they took me from the train. I do not remember any of this, but my mother tells me she went to look for me in the morgue, my mother found me in the morgue, and she took me with her to the hospital on the river Volga.” Krakovsky said that she was unconscious; all she remembers is waking up in a hospital.
Another clear memory is that her mother, sister and she worked briefly on a collective farm picking grapes and eating grapes as a way to survive. They decided to return to Ukraine, following the Soviet soldiers who were advancing and taking back territory from the Germans.
They came back to their desecrated town, Liubar. “Someone had opened a store in our old house. Mama asked him to leave. She went to military police, and they made sure that he did not return,” said Krakovsky.
In 1947 Krakovsky, her sister and moth-er decided to move to Kiev, where her aunt lived so that they could go to school. She lived and worked in Kiev and at age 27 mar-ried her husband, Rafael, a Jew originally from Belarus who had come to Kiev and had studied engineering. She had her son, Alex, in 1966 and then her daughter, Polina, in 1977.
Life was not easy for her or her husband. Maya had difficulty finding work. Though they were not practicing, Jews were always identified as such in their passports and iden-tification cards.
“Why did I leave Kiev? We had no choice. Alex fought with kids at school because he was protecting a friend. Alex was trying to save him because of a Jewish friend. The
teachers said to me that they could not pro-tect my son at school. I decided we had to leave. It was terrible. We decided to go to Canada and then to the United States with mother and husband, 14-year-old (son) and three years old (daughter). I was 44 years old, Rafael was 49. The situation was so bad because we were Jewish,” said Krakovsky. They left in January 1980.
“We sold everything; we were not allowed to keep anything. You lose everything. We went to Vienna, Austria, to Rome, Italy, all with the help of the Jewish Community Center. We stayed in Italy for four months. They helped us. We came to Maryland be-cause Rafa, my husband, already had his cousin, Edward Danstker, living here,” said Krakovsky.
The Jewish Community Center ( JCC) was formed in the U.S. in 1948 and merged four agencies: the Jewish Adult Bureau, the Council Educational Alliance, Camp Wise and the Cultural Department of Jewish Community Council. Its mission has been aiding the integration of Jewish immigrants into American life. In the 1970s, the JCC added programs to help the socialization of Soviet Jews. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society also has played an essential role in advocating and supporting the immigration of the Russian Jewish population since 1881.
When Krakovsky came to Maryland with her family, she and her husband started working immediately. Krakovsky cleaned homes and became a seamstress while her husband eventually found work with the Metro system. Krakovsky worked 18-hour days. “ I did not go on welfare, I worked. I hope that my story inspires other immi-grants to know that if you work hard and support each other, you can do this, you can do this,” she said.
“I wanted my kids to have the best that they can have. I want my kids to work hard like me. I worked very hard. What you think is essential. What you do is vital. Don’t look at the government pocket, don’t look at mama and papa’s pocket, work! Look at my grandchildren. They are the best in the world,” she said. Granddaughter Saman-tha Krakovksy is a junior at Quince Orchard High, and granddaughter Eliana Krakovsky is a physics major at the University of Mary-land.
“I hope my grandchildren never see what I saw, never live under the conditions I did. I pray for this. Religion is not everything. It does not mean that you have to push this on other people, say that you are better than somebody; we are all the same. It is your choice to believe in what you believe in,” said Krakovsky.
n KRAKOVSKY from page 1
Handcrafted Display Spreads Christmas CheerInspired by the light display at Seneca Creek Park about
10 years ago, the Ingrassia family at 705 Kent Oaks Way set out to create something that would be just as fun during the day. John and Dayna Ingrassia designed and made all of the decorations out of wood and then added custom lighting. Each year, they have added homemade elements to their Christmas display.
Favorites include Santa ringing his bell and bellowing out “ho-ho-ho,” Frosty the Snowman tossing a snowball, and Rudolph about to take flight. New this year were five elves, each representing one of the Ingrassia children.
Photo | Dayna Ingrassia
John and Dayna Ingrassia added five elves to their Christmas display this year, each repre-senting one of their children.
January 17, 2020 THE TOWN COURIER Page 5
Joseph HansenRGS Title Rockville Of� ce: 301-230-0070Direct: [email protected]
David KimInsurance ManagerRPI License No: 2118546Direct: 301-200-3092Toll Free: (866)-275-4534 ext 8622Fax: [email protected]
Eric P. JohnsonSenior Loan Of� cer
Cell: 240-938-0559E-fax: 855-886-7592NMLSR ID 193193
Prosperity Home Mortgage 189 Kentlands Blvd N. Potomac, MD [email protected]
189 Kentlands Blvd.,N. Potomac, MD 20878
301-975-9500 (of� ce)
JOIN OUR AWARDWINNING TEAM!
#FortheLoveofAgents
For a full list of Available Homes visit: www.LongandFoster.com
3851 Shadywood Dr. #2 D, JeffersonFranco Saladino 301-466-4668
23BR 2BA $149,000
4712 Blagden Ave NW DCRoman Mychajliw (240) 994-5067
6BR 4.2BA $1,169,000
18320 Tapwood Rd. BoydsJasra Zaheer 240-654-7981
4BR 3.1BA $720,000
14820 Fireside Dr. Silver SpringRenee Harris 240-601-3795
4BR 2.5BA $450,000
2 Thistle Pl. BaltimoreGary Gestson 301-646-0046
9BR 6BA $1,100,000
13310 Foxden Dr. RockvilleRhonda Appelbaum 240-205-2101
4BR 4.2 BA $925,000
7710 Woodmont Ave #811 BethesdaKellie Plucinski 240-997-1497
2BR 2BA $799,900
3723 Edmond Way BowieCynthia Taylor-Hicks 301-377-2269
3BR 2.5BA $315,000
All of your real estate needs under 1 roof
If you are interested in a career in Real Estate call:
Janice RaffelVice President, Associate Broker
Long & Foster North Potomac/RockvilleDirect: [email protected]
After he read an advance copy of the book, “the full idea of a community-wide ‘read’” took hold. “That’s when the rele-vance of the work really hit me. Here we are in Gaithersburg, one of the top two most diverse cities in the United States, a place where roughly a third of our residents were born in another country—and many of whom have compelling immigrant sto-ries of their own,” Ashman said. “And here we have this amazing, heavily researched page-turner of an immigrant story writ-ten by one of our own; it just made all the sense in the world to get the whole com-munity involved and behind it.”
When Cummins, who now lives in Rockland County, New York, with her husband and two daughters, learned about being chosen as the program’s first author, she said, “I couldn’t wait to tell my mom!” Her mom, a retired Shady Grove Adven-tist Hospital nurse, was indeed delighted to alert the members of her book club. She, and the rest of Cummins’ immediate fam-ily, have “deep roots” in the Quail Valley community and Montgomery County. The author’s dad has served as a deacon for St. Martin and St. John Neumann Catholic churches, her brother is a county firefighter and her sister ran The Lord’s Table soup kitchen.
“I didn’t understand how remarkable, rare and precious Montgomery Coun-ty was until I lived in other places,” said Cummins. “I took its diversity and inte-grated communities for granted. I grew up with friends of every race and creed. It was idyllic.”
Cummins left home at age 17 to at-tend Towson University, where she stud-ied English and mass communications. Post-graduation, she spent about two years living in Belfast, Ireland, among “my far-away sisters,” young women who had spent summers with her family while she was growing up.
Upon returning to the U.S., Cummins settled in New York City. Since she “al-ways knew I wanted to be a writer,” her goal was to “infiltrate the publishing in-dustry from the inside and figure out what I could.” She did just that, working for Pen-guin Books for a decade, where her boss and co-workers—“They believed in me,” she said—facilitated the publishing and success of her memoir, “A Rip in Heaven” (2004). The book, which, she said, “de-buted at number-two on The Washington Post bestsellers’ list,” told the “incredibly painful” true story of the brutal attack on her brother and two female cousins in St. Louis; her brother was the only survivor. “The book was a love letter to the people I lost,” said Cummins, who was 16 at the time, but wrote the book in her early 20s. “It took me many years to understand.”
After the 2007 birth of her first daugh-
ter, Cummins said, “I realized I couldn’t be a mom, hold a full-time job that in-volved a lot of travel and write at the same time.” She left Penguin, and two works of fiction followed: “The Outside Boy” (2010) and “The Crooked Branch” (2013). In the first, Cummins explored the di-chotomy between the Irish cornerstone tradition of hospitality and its animosity toward Pavee gypsies. The second nov-el alternates between the narratives of an isolated first-time mother in the County of Mayo, Ireland, during the 1800s fam-ine and her descendant, a struggling new mother in present-day Queens (the New York City borough where the author resid-ed for about 15 years). Cummins said she wanted to illuminate “the common lack of understanding that famine was preventable then—as it is now.”
Cummins identified one common theme in her work: “an issue misrepresented or stereotyped, a flawed current represen-tation that I reframe in a more equitable way.”
Her new book, “American Dirt,” consti-tutes Cummins’ effort to “subvert the pop-ular misconceptions about migrants.” “On the first page,” the author said, “there is a horrific massacre at a family birthday par-ty. Lydia, a bookseller in Acapulco, Mex-ico, and her 8-year-old son Luca are the only survivors. On the run from a Mexican cartel, they suddenly go from being middle class to migrants.”
“I tried to recast the story in a new way, away from the superficial stereotyping of who these migrants are,” Cummins ex-plained. “Fiction can put you inside the skin of another vulnerable human being whose life and child are on the line. What laws would you break in their situation?”
Cummins said she had doubts about whether she had the “right to write this story” since she is not Mexican. Her family heritage is both Irish and Puerto Rican. To enhance her understanding, she did “in-tensive research,” including trips to Mex-ico. In the end, she felt “an obligation, a responsibility to be engaged in this conver-sation about migrants,” and to distinguish the truth between the “dueling narratives of the far right’s mob of invading criminals who want to steal our jobs, health care and women,” and the far left’s somewhat pater-nalistic, condescending attitude.
“We have to remember that these are human beings who must be treated hu-manely. We must meet our moral obliga-tion to help them.
“There are no politics in the book,” Cummins emphasized. “My highest hope is that people read this book and realize and understand what these people are facing.”
Cummins is about to embark upon a three-month book tour, during which she plans to ponder “some very vague ideas” for her next novel—possibly set in Puerto Rico.
n ‘AMERICAN DIRT’ from page 1
Tell them you saw it in The Town Courier
Page 6 THE TOWN COURIER January 17, 2020
JEFFREY BRIGGSOWNER
BRIGGS PAINTING AND CARPENTRY
[email protected] 7400 Cliffbourne Ct301-509-4659 Derwood, MD 20855MHIC 127301 *Power Washing
*Painting *Carpentry
ADVERTISE IN THE COURIER TODAY!
Contact Vincent Bono, The Gaithersburg Town Courier
advertising representative
Vincent Bono 240.702.5090
City to Host Workshop Looking at Healthy Lawns Act
By Gina Gallucci-White
A s a part of a Jan. 27 work session, the Gaithersburg Mayor and City Council will be considering opting
in to Bill 52-14, the Montgomery County Healthy Lawns Act.
In 2015, the Montgomery County Council passed the legislation that aims to restrict the use of pesticides and herbicides for cosmetic purposes on lawns , childcare facilities, playgrounds and some county facilities. A circuit court overturned the act in 2017, but the council appealed. Last year, the Maryland Court of Special Ap-peals ruled in favor of the act, which had been heavily opposed by lawn care compa-nies. The county was one of the first in the country to pass an act of this kind.
As a part of the 7:30 p.m. meeting, the Mayor and City Council will be hearing from residents and other interested parties on whether or not to opt in to the act.
The Gaithersburg Environmental Affairs Committee, which advises the governing body, recently unanimously voted to opt in to the act. Committee Chair Doug Wolf plans to attend the meeting.
“We have been discussing this issue since 2014,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of people come in and out of the committee, so there has been quite a bit of discussion on it.”
Wolf notes they heard from multiple pre-senters as well as read articles on pesticide use and alternatives like compost tea that are better for the environment. The group has seen several demonstrations of lawns being treated with alternatives like the Kentlands Clubhouse and the Glenstone
Museum with good results. The clubhouse hasn’t “used pesticides
in several years and it is a beautiful, thick green lawn,” Wolf noted. “A lot of us have done our own experiments of switching to organic types of fertilizers and so forth with great results.”
Pesticides may also lead to some health issues such as cancer, asthma and other re-spiratory illnesses. “If you go to (the herbi-cide) Roundup’s website, it says completely safe if used as directed,” Wolf said. “Well, what is used as directed? As an example, it means (wearing) closed toed shoes, long sleeve shirts, long pants, protective safety goggles—not just safety glasses but gog-gles that wrap all the way around so noth-ing can get in from the side, a dust mask and gloves. I gotta tell you, most people, I would say 95 percent of people, do not read instructions. They grab a product and start using it. They are at risk by maybe not knowing about how dangerous a product can be.”
The act does not prevent the sale of pes-ticides and herbicides. “One of the things that the law will do will be to require re-tailers to have a separate area for these (pes-ticides) in the store and have special signage warning about the potential dangers from the use of this product,” Wolf said. “It is re-ally the public’s right to know and looking out for public safety.”
Because the county has the act, Wolf believes the city should do so as well for continuity. “It is advantageous to opt in to what the county is doing to help clarify the situation and have one set of standards,” Wolf said.
Hear what your kids’ peers are saying.”Between social media, school shootings,
the concern over climate change and the overall pressure to be perfect all the time, this generation has a much more stressful growing up environment than any other, Larkin said. And people are finally starting to realize that kids can’t succeed in the class-room, if they are not mentally well. In 2019 MCPS launched a new initiative, Be Well 365, to address the physical, social and psy-chological health of students and ensure they have the necessary skills to become positive members of the school and community, manage their emotions, identify and access support for themselves and/or their friends, and more. And it’s up to educators, Quince Orchard Principal Beth Thomas said, to cultivate an environment in which students feel comfortable enough to seek help.
“I’m very proud of our students and staff for their commitment on mental health and wellbeing,” Thomas said. “Students’ mental health is our No. 1 priority, and we try to make sure they understand how to navigate (the pressure and stresses).”
Perhaps the biggest struggle for mental health professionals—and the reason events like the MCCPTA Mental Health Forum are so important—is dealing with parents who are uncomfortable with the subject or don’t believe mental illness is out of their child’s control.
“It’s important to enforce the mind-body connection,” Larkin said. “If a child is bleeding out or has diabetes, of course you’re going to get treatment. You’re not going to tell them to suck it up or stop being dramatic. You have to work through coping (with mental illness). You have to acknowl-edge it and help support getting the proper resources.”
n WELLNESS from page 1
January 17, 2020 THE TOWN COURIER Page 7
Gentle and Flow Yoga ClassesOne-on-One Sessions
420 Main St., 2nd floorGaithersburg, MD 20878
202 360-7166Alex@zyogaway
www.facebook.com/[email protected]
www.zyogaway.com
420 Main St., 2nd � oorGaithersburg, MD 20878
420 Main St., 2nd � oorGaithersburg, MD 20878
www.zyogaway.com
Meditation, Gentle and Flow Yoga ClassesIndividual, group, one-on one as well
Just Mercy (PG-13) ****Fine performances
by Michael B. Jordan as Harvard lawyer Bry-an Stevenson and Jamie Foxx as Walter “JD” McMillan do not alter the fact that this film is sadly predictable. It depicts events from the ‘80s and ‘90s that fit a familiar pattern, and there is nothing particularly notable about McMillan’s innocence to make this film any different from other accounts of racial injustice from the South during the period.
It is extremely regrettable that a young Harvard lawyer had to go to Alabama to reverse death penalty verdicts, but the fact is that Stevenson did go down South to do exactly that. His mother in Delaware warns him, “If you don’t know what could happen to you down there, you should ask Harvard for your money back.”
In Alabama Stevenson meets a young woman, Eva Ansley (Brie Larson), who happens to be consumed by the same in-justices that brought Bryan to the South.
She is the managing director of the fledg-ling Equal Justice Initiative, and he is the executive director. Stevenson takes up two cases immediately in the film.
Herbert Richardson (Rob Morgan) is a vet with PTSD who killed a girl, not knowing that he did so and regretting it very much. His diagnosis makes no dif-ference, and he is Stevenson’s first and damaging loss.
Next, he takes on McMillan, even though JD McMillan does not trust him; he has been through several lawyers, all of whom quit on him. What follows is a parade of injustice: a lying chief witness, corrupt police who conspired with the DA to hide evidence—the usual litany of racial abuses that Justice had inflicted upon her. Through solid lawyering and persistence, Stevenson gets the case to the Alabama Supreme Court and the expect-ed ending.
All of the characters represent real peo-ple, most of whom are apparently still alive, and portrayals seem honest. But the story, as sad as it is, has been told so many times before that the inherent drama of this one is ruined by fulfilled expecta-tions.
For more Mike at the Movies, visit www.towncourier.com.
MIKEAT THE MOVIES
By Mike Cuthbert
© 2018 Village Settlements, Inc.
177 Kentlands Blvd.suite 200
GaithersBurG, Md 20878Phone: 301-590-9300
Fax: 301-590-1166
5283 CorPorate dr.suite 301
FrederiCK, Md 21703Phone: 301-698-9300
Fax: 301-698-9162
7500 Greenway Center dr.suite 640
GreenBelt, Md 20770Phone: 301-486-0799
Fax: 301-486-7670
www.villagesettlements.comClick “Ask a Question”
24-Hour Law Line: (301) 406-8972
IT’S YOUR HOME.WHO WILL YOU TRUST
WITH YOUR NEXTPURCHASE OR REFINANCE
SETTLEMENT?Real Estate. Real Law. Real Attorneys.SM
Metro Washington Chapter of the Colored Pencil Society of America: ‘Life in Color’Through Jan. 27, Arts Barn
This juried exhibit features colored pen-cil artists living and working in the DC metro area.
‘Let’s Dance & Inner Visions’Jan. 17-March 9; Reception Jan. 25, 1-3 p.m., Kentlands Mansion
The ballroom at the mansion will feature the figurative work of Allen Bentley. His dance pieces explore the fleeting perception of bodies in motion. The upstairs galleries in the mansion will hold motion in a differ-ent way, showing the intuitive figure and semi-abstract paintings of Kristina Garon. Free.
‘Unforgettable – A Tribute to Nat King Cole’Jan. 17-19, 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., 2 p.m. Sun.Arts Barn
Don Dillingham, accompanied by the North Metro Jazz Collective, emulates the legendary Nat King Cole. Tickets are $22 for adults, $18 for students (ages 15-21).
Matinee Saturday – ‘Captain Kidd’Jan. 18, 2-4:30 p.m., Arts Barn
Captain Kidd seeks treasure by pirating in the name of King William III of En-gland. Admission is $5.
Sean Heely, Scottish Fiddle-Burns NightJan. 24, 8 p.m., Arts Barn
Follow Heely’s fiddle journey through Scotland, Ireland and America. Tickets are $25; $18 for youth (18 and under).
‘Building Bridges Connecting Our Global Roots’Jan. 24-March 30; Reception Jan. 30, 7-8:30 p.m., Bohrer Park
Artists will demonstrate through their creativity how one’s personal roots and her-itage may connects to other cultures. Free.
Dance Your Way Into 2020 Dance FiestaJan. 25, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Kentlands Mansion
Kentlands Mansion, in partnership with Two Left Feet, presents this evening of Sal-sa & Swing dancing. Admission is $30.
The Great ZucchiniJan. 26, 11 a.m. & 1 p.m., Arts Barn
A colorful magic show filled with the wonder of magic, the silliness of comedy, and the interactive nature of The Great Zucchini keeps children on the edge of their seats. Tickets are $10.
‘The Guilty’Jan. 26, 6:15 p.m. doors & 7 p.m. screening, Arts Barn
The Kentlands Film Society presents this Danish film about Asger Holm, a police of-ficer who has been demoted to deskwork and must use others as eyes and ears to try to solve a kidnapping. A small number of walk-in tickets ($10) will be available for the films. If you would like to reserve one, please email [email protected].
‘Photographic Portraiture’Jan. 31-March 23; Reception Feb. 6, 7-8:30 p.m., Arts Barn
The Bethesda Camera Club exhibits their juried portraiture. Free.
‘Play Date’ by John MorogielloIn partnership with Best Medicine Rep Feb. 7-23, 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., 2 p.m. Sun.Arts Barn
While the children get together for a morning of fun, it’s the parents who mis-behave in the next room. Tickets are $20; $18 for students (ages 15-21).
A&EBRIEFS Compiled by Pam Schipper
Photo | Submitted
An original farce by local playwright John Morogiello, “Play Date” is a fast-moving comedy with two actors playing six parents in quick change.
@TownCourier for more neighborhood news!
Page 8 THE TOWN COURIER January 17, 2020
Two Sequels Worth the WaitThe authors of the
two 2019 novels I con-sider here delayed pro-ducing sequels to their cr it ica l ly-accla imed and commercially suc-cessful novels an un-usually long time. “Ol-ive, Again” is Elizabeth Strout’s follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning 2008 nov-el “Olive Kitteredge.” “The Big Sky” is Kate Atkinson’s fifth in her Jackson Bro-die detective series that began with “Case
Histories” (2007) and has been MIA since “Started Early, Took My Dog” (2011). Both Strout and Atkinson published multi-ple unrelated novels in between.
Because much of the background infor-mation is integrated into their new works, the books can stand alone. Still, for those who delight in the 2019 novels as well as for those who enjoyed the previous ones way back when, I highly recommend read-ing—or re-reading—the originals to get the full flavor of the characters.
These disparate novels and novelists—Strout is from Maine and Atkinson is Brit-ish—also have in common that the earlier
books were adapted for television. “Olive Kitteredge” became a four-part HBO se-ries in 2014, and the BBC made Atkinson’s four Jackson Brodie detective novels into the six-episode “Case Histories” in 2011.
Strout’s “Olive, Again” is more of the delightful same. Although delightful might not be the word many would use to describe Olive, somehow the character is lovable, and the books themselves are wonderful. Again in the same interlinked short-story format and pitch-perfect dia-logue, the quirky inhabitants of the small coastal town of Crosby, Maine, are well-drawn in their struggles with a range of the sadder aspects of human life.
The quintessentially eccentric retired math teacher remains true to herself in the new book. Older and perhaps marginally wiser, or more accepting, the somehow lovable Olive tends to be brutally honest, even rude, and is far from perfect in her roles as wife and mother—as she readi-ly acknowledges. Here, Olive looks back on her life in an effort to come to terms with her disappointments in her family, her neighbors and herself.
She continues to make both humorous and poignant observations about the reali-ties of aging. “When you get old, you be-come invisible. It’s just the truth. And yet it’s freeing in a way. … You go through life and you think you are something. Not in a good way, and not in a bad way. But you think you are something, and then you see that you are no longer anything. To a wait-ress with a huge hind end, you’ve become invisible. And it’s freeing.”
In “The Big Sky,” Atkinson’s protago-nist Jackson Brodie is older, too—and still flawed, sullen and self-deprecating yet en-dearing. As a private investigator in the northeastern U.K. seaside village where his ex and their teenage son live, he works mostly straightforward infidelity cases.
This is a typically lengthy Atkinson nov-el (400 pages to the 300 of “Olive, Again”) filled with excellent writing, dry humor, a timely issue (human trafficking) and a large enough cast of characters that it is occa-sionally hard to keep track; if you don’t pay close attention—no skimming Atkinson’s prose!—you might have to re-read previ-ous pages. In addition, each chapter tends to change perspective, bringing not only a different character or voice, but also a dif-ferent time in the story.
When Brodie takes on a client who thinks she is being followed, his job chang-es course toward complex and challeng-ing. All the characters, disparate plots and subplots sort out to an ending that seems inevitable. There’s often a heavy dose of coincidence, which according to Brodie (here and in previous books) “is just an ex-planation waiting to happen.”
“Worlds were colliding all over the place,” Brodie observed.
Without giving away anything more, the resolution of “The Big Sky” addresses a major theme in the real world: the rela-tionship between justice and the law.
I enjoyed reading both of these books, and hope neither author takes as long to write more about these wonderful charac-ters. Still, the results were worth the wait.
By Ellyn Wexler
CONSTANTREADER
Don’t miss these sequels by Elizabeth Strout and Kate Atkinson. For more Constant Reader reviews, visit www.towncourier.com.
January 17, 2020 THE TOWN COURIER Page 9
News and Current Events for Quince Orchard Park n E-mail your contributions to [email protected] n JANUARY 2020
The ParkPages Meeting CalendarFeb. 4—Condo 1 Meeting, 7 p.m., QOP Clubhouse
Feb. 4—Condo 2 Meeting, 8 p.m., QOP Clubhouse Feb. 11—Board Meeting, 7 p.m. at the QOP Clubhouse
QOP NEWS
MANAGEMENT MENTIONS
Secure Your Trash and Recycling
Please do not leave your trash out for pickup in bags only. Trash bags are easily ripped open by wildlife who then spread the trash through-out the community. This mess is compounded on windy days. Con-tinued use of bags may result in fines.
Instead, please secure your trash bags in tightly covered trash cans. Proper trash etiquette will go a long way toward keeping our community clean. Trash is collected on Tuesday and Friday.
Recycling is picked up on Fri-days. 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.
Please remember that trash cans and recycle bins must be stored out of sight on non-pickup days.
Bulk Trash Pickup Dos and Don’ts
Confusion over bulk trash pickup has resulted in large items put out on the wrong date and not prepared correctly for pickup. These items linger curbside.
The City of Gaithersburg offers bulk trach pickup on the first Friday of the month in Quince Orchard Park (unless that date is a holiday). For February, the community’s bulk trash pickup date is Friday, Feb. 7.
Items accepted for bulk pickup include heavy electrical appliances, furniture, computers, televisions and non-metal sinks, tubs and toi-lets. Scrap metal will also be ac-cepted, but this must be separated. Acceptable scrap metal items are metal washers, dryers, refrigerators, air conditioners, dishwashers, sinks, stoves, freezers, lawn mowers and bikes.
Contractor debris will not be col-lected. Other items not accepted for bulk trash pickup are recyclables, trash, dirt, household hazardous waste, propane tanks, motor vehicle parts including tires, and paint. Any items placed in plastic bags will not be collected.
Please place bulk trash pickup items on your street curb by 7 a.m. on the first Friday of the month. Prepare these items for collection by labeling them “Bulk Pickup.”
Items placed curbside after 7 a.m.,
improperly labeled or placed in plas-tic bags will not be collected. For more information, visit www.gaith-ersburgmd.gov/services/recycling-bulk-pick-up/bulk-pick-up.
Potomac Disposal (301.294.9700) also offers collection services for bulk items at no cost.
Do Your Dog Duty Cleaning up after dogs is the legal
responsibility of every canine own-er walking a dog in the communi-ty. Dogs are not permitted off-leash on common property in the City of Gaithersburg.
Get 20 Percent Off at Potomac Garden Center
Did you know that you can save an additional 20 percent at Potomac Garden Center (PGC) just for being a Quince Orchard Park resident? Present your driver’s license and en-joy a discount on regularly priced items at PGC’s 12024 Darnestown Road, North Potomac and 8710 Fingerboard Road, Urbana loca-tions. Both locations are open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This PGC Community Discount program excludes gift cards, labor, delivery charges, taxes, sale items, chemicals and fertilizers. This dis-count can’t be combined with oth-er offers. Valid only for residents within communities where PGC provides landscape maintenance services.
Please Recommend Contractors
Were you pleased with work done on your home? If so, please rec-ommend your contractor to your neighbors. Just go to the website, www.quinceorchardpark.com and click on the ACC information tab. You’ll see the sub-tab “Contractor Recommendations” that links to a recommendation form.
QOP Management Contact Info.Quince Orchard Park
Community Manager Ruchita Patel
Co-Community Manager Andrea Beaird
c/o The Management Group Associates, Inc.
20440 Century Boulevard, Suite 100 Germantown, MD 20874
Phone: 301.948.6666 Email: [email protected]
Congratulations to the Holiday Home Decorating Contest Winners
Quince Orchard Park was aglow with holi-day spirit this year—so much so that it was dif-ficult to select winners in the annual Holiday Home Decorating Contest. Congratulations to residents at 620 Highland Ridge Ave. (first place), 310 Swanton Lane (second place) and 307 Winter Walk Drive (third place). Recog-nized residents received Lowe’s gift cards.
Your Input Needed on School Bus Overcrowding
To date, the management company has re-ceived 65 responses to a survey on school buses serving our community. The Quince Orchard Park Board created this survey to gather infor-mation on school bus overcrowding. More in-put is needed.
Thanks to parent advocacy, QOP now has two middle school buses. Elementary and high school buses remain full with elementary stu-dents sometimes crowded into seats and high school students sometimes standing in the aisles, according to resident feedback.
According to Maryland state law, students can’t be required to stand on a school bus or sit on the floor. MCPS policy notes, “Standing during operation is not allowed on buses except during the first few weeks of the new school year when schedules and routes are being ad-justed or occasionally during the year when breakdowns occur or temporary needs arise.”
Please visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/NXJHN3G to fill out QOP’s survey on school buses that serve our community. This informa-tion will be used when the Board communi-cates with MCPS to resolve the problem.
If you would like to reach out to MCPS di-rectly, please contact Sharon Stream, Quince Orchard cluster manager, at 240.740.4734 or [email protected].
Homeowners Urged to Check Roofs for Organic Shingles
Some residents have learned that their roofs, which were installed by the original developer, are failing early due to defective shingles. Made up of CertainTeed Horizon organic shingles, their roofs are prematurely cracking, curling, pitting, blistering, balding and degranulating. These shingles were manufactured between 1987 and 2005 and were the subject of a 2010
class action settlement.If your home uses these shingles, you may
need to replace your roof early. You can find more information at www.certainteedshingle-settlement.com/index.cfm.
Approval Needed Prior to Roof Replacement
The community is getting older, and it’s time for many homes to replace their roofs. If you are considering this, please remember to sub-mit your roof material and color choice to the Architectural Control Committee (ACC) for approval prior to installation. Any substantial repairs to a roof or complete replacements must be approved by the ACC before any work is done.
Look for additional roof material and color choice guidance to be released soon, including a list of residences using approved material and colors. Created by the ACC, this resource will be uploaded to the QOP website.
Per the Association’s legal documents, a fine of $100 can be added for completing a modifi-cation without prior approval. A separate $100 fine can be charged for starting a project before the ACC has rendered a decision.
ACC Looking for New MemberQOP’s Architectural Control Committee
(ACC) works to keep our community beauti-ful. As QOP matures, the ACC’s mission has become more important. Homes need to be re-painted, roofs are beginning to fail—and with upkeep come choices that are complicated by original materials that are no longer readily available and paint colors faded by the elements.
The ACC is looking for a new volunteer member. If you are interested, please email [email protected].
QOP Awarded Neighborhood Matching Grant
A review panel comprised of staff from the City Manager’s Office and Neighborhood Ser-vices evaluated a second round of applications for the FY20 Frederick J. Felton Neighborhood Matching Grant Program and recommended that nine of 13 applications be approved in the total amount of $21,366. At its Dec. 16 meet-ing, the Mayor and City Council approved these nine grants, including a $2,500 award to the Quince Orchard Park HOA for landscap-ing.
Image | City of Gaithersburg
Playground equipment was recently installed at Discovery Park, which is anticipated to open in late spring.
Page 10 THE TOWN COURIER January 17, 2020
SPORTSProfessional Service Directory
Schaeffer’s Piano Co., Inc.Est 1901
New Kawai pianos now
available!
105 N Stonestreet Ave.Rockville, Md 20850
301.424.1144www.schaefferspiano.com
Schaeffer’s Piano Co., Inc.Est 1901
www.schaefferspiano.com
QO Basketball Extends Winning Streak to Five GamesBy Ben Strober
Q uince Orchard boys’ basketball has gotten off to a hot start this 2019-2020 season. After drop-
ping their first game of the season to Walter Johnson, the team’s play has heated up with five wins, including regular season victories against Whit-man and Poolesville, with a dou-ble-digit win over Tuscarora. The Cougars suffered losses to Richard Montgomery and Clarksburg in ear-ly January and were poised to take on Northwest at press time.
During the holidays on Dec. 27 and 28, the Cougars played in the annu-al David Griffin Memorial Shootout. This shootout featured schools like Quince Orchard, Urbana, Clarks-burg, Watkins Mill, Tuscarora and Owings Mills.
Overall, Quince Orchard domi-nated competition in the two games they played in the shootout, picking up wins over Urbana and Owings
Mills. QO’s first game against Ur-bana featured standout performances from Cole Allemong, Alex Parisotto and Jeremiah Littlejohn. Parisotto, a junior, has been on varsity since his freshman year and has progressed into an elite guard for QO. “Our goal is to keep getting better every game we play so we can be polished for the playoffs,” Parisotto said after his dom-inating performance over Urbana where he scored 23 points.
In his first year as a varsity player this season, Littlejohn has quickly become a standout by playing phe-nomenal defense, forcing multiple turnovers a game and scoring the ball efficiently. Littlejohn promised a dunk against Urbana, and he sure brought thunder to the gym when he stole the ball and slammed it down with authority on the fast break. “I think we have grown a lot these past few games. We are playing well as a team and improving each game we play,” Littlejohn said.
Against Urbana, QO broke out to a quick start with many steals and easy scores, achieving a 22-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Parisotto and Allemong combined for 37 points as they showed how effectively they could score the ball. Quince Orchard was able to press Urbana all game and get many steals for fast break points. The Cougars cruised through the rest of the game, winning by a final score of 73-49 over Urbana.
The next day Quince Orchard played Owings Mills High School. QO came ready to play and was able to jump to an early double-digit lead by the end of the first half. Team Cap-tain Teddy Kelly had his best game of the season so far, scoring 18 points and adding along multiple assists for the Cougars. Kelly had a terrific night shooting from behind the arc where he was two of three (66 percent).
Parisotto once again assumed his leadership role and racked up 23 points
Ice Hockey Off to Great Start
By Adam Gotkin
I ce hockey is one of the most popu-lar sports in the DMV. The Wash-ington Capitals, the local profes-
sional hockey team, have been in the top half of the NHL in attendance every year since 2008. Since the Caps 2018 Stanley Cup win, the popularity of ice hockey in the area has just kept on growing.
Yet unlike the other three major American sports (football, basketball, baseball), high school hockey isn’t an official sport in the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Associ-ation (MPSSAA). Public school stu-dents are able to hone their skills on the ice through participation in the Maryland Student Hockey League (MSHL), an organization now in its
31st season. Though unaffiliated with MPSSAA, MSHL does abide by many of MPSSAA rules and regulations.
This means that ice hockey func-tions a bit differently than other school sports. Players have to pay for every-thing. This includes ice time, gear, jersey and even league fees. And the prices for these things aren’t cheap.
At Quince Orchard High School, the team is considered the Ice Hock-ey Club, which gives the team some non-monetary benefits. But its unoffi-cial status means that it doesn’t qualify for booster club funding, something second-year head coach Andy Ka-ton believes doesn’t make any sense. “Why they don’t support us is a very difficult question for me to answer,” Coach Katon said, noting that “some families have multiple kids playing, so
it can be burdensome.”With the financial costs of ice time
and limited availability, the team can only practice once a week. All the way out in Fredrick on Monday after-noons, the team has their weekly. In addition to this, the whole coaching staff is compiled of parent volunteers.
The team this year is having its best start to a season ever. In the first 10 games of the season, the Cougars have accumulated 10 points, going 4-4-2 while playing all teams in the league.
And while playing very well, this team is also very young. The two leading scorers are brothers, Tyler and Dylan Eyester, who are junior and freshman forwards respectively. Af-ter the two brothers, third in scoring is another freshman, Josh Weitzman. The team doesn’t only have these young players, however. The senior class is led by Jared Katon, son of the Coach Andy Katon, and goalie Noah Patrick.
Coach Katon said this combination of young and old creates a great bal-ance. “We are having the best start to our season ever,” he said, “and I think the balance of the skill of the under-classman and leadership of the seniors has made that possible.”
Now halfway through the season, Quince Orchard is on track to make the state playoffs for the first time in the team’s four-year history. They have already done something they had never done before this year, in beating Wootton, and they hope to continue their success into the second half and make a deep run in the playoffs.
Photo | Michelle Caton
Quince Orchard ice hockey hopes to continue their success into the second half and make a deep run in the playoffs.
n BOYS’ BASKETBALL continues on page 11
Dentistry & Orthodontics for Children, Adolescents, Young
Adults & Special Needs
Quince Orchard Medical Park, 11904-D Darnestown Rd, North Potomac, MD 20878240.683.8040 www.thedentistforkids.com
Dr. Fariba Paryavi Board Certified Pediatric Dentist
Dr. Tracy San Martin Pediatric Dentist
Dr. Lobat Zainali Board Certified Orthodontist
Pediatric Dental Care & PDC Orthodontics
$45 or lessAdd your business card to the Professional Service Directory!Contact Vincent Bono, Advertising Sales
240.702.5090 | [email protected]
January 17, 2020 THE TOWN COURIER Page 11
for neighborhood news, including sports updates, arts
openings, Kentlands Downtown
commercial developments and business updates, and city
news that affects you.
www.facebook.com /towncourier
Lady Cougars Making a Name for Themselves
By Kendall Lumsden
H olding a 5-4 record so far, 2-1 in their division, the Quince Orchard Lady Cougars basketball team,
coached by Bobby Bishop and led by Se-nior Captains Paige McNeal and Makayla Wright, along with Junior Captain Alex Boggs, have high expectations for their 2020 season. “We want to get a banner in our gym,” Wright said.
Their season started on Dec. 10 with a 51-42 win against Walter Johnson High School, followed by another 51-42 win against Walt Whitman High School. In their game against Walter Johnson, the team was led by Anaya Badmus with 12 points, McNeal with 11 points and Israel McKenzie with 10 points. Their win over Whitman was their first in 11 years, led by Wright with 22 points and Badmus with 15 points. The next two games were hard-fought losses to Poolesville High School (52-47) and Tuscarora High School (49-38). In their Poolesville game, the team was led by Badmus with 14 points, and in their Tuscarora game, the team was led by Badmus and Boggs with 12 points each.
Following their return from break, their first conference game of the season was against Richard Montgomery High School; the Cougars pulled off a 62-49 win led by Badmus with 20 points, McNeal
with 14 points and Wright with 13 points. Montgomery Blair High School gave the Cougars a tough game, defeating them 52-47, led by Wright and McNeal each with 12 points. The next two games were con-ference games, a win against Gaithersburg High School (65-47) and a loss to Clarks-burg High School (56-49). Wright and Boggs (12 points each) led the Cougars in their Gaithersburg game, and Boggs (10 points) and Katie Dunda (15 points) led in the Clarksburg game.
The Lady Cougars concluded their 2018-19 season with a disappointing loss to Richard Montgomery in the first round of the playoffs. McNeal described the frus-tration as a reason to be “motivated” even more this season. The team looks to im-prove from last year’s 15-7 record.
“My goal,” Coach Bishop said, “is to have the best record we possibly can for the school, win our division, and we always want to go to states.”
The girls’ basketball team has yet to win a state championship in the school’s history, and they are one of the few teams missing a banner in the school gym. “I feel like we are a stronger unit than we were last year,” Wright said. “Everyone has the same com-mon goal. We want to get somewhere.”
A big and important change this season that has given the team a boost is chemistry
and team bonding. “We spend a lot of time together on the court as well as doing a lot of team dinners,” said Boggs.
Earlier in the season, the girls traveled to a Hood College basketball game to sup-port alumni Paige Copenhaver and Desti-ni Kelley, and they plan to attend more as the season goes on to support more of their previous teammates.
In addition to bonding, another notice-able difference between the Cougars and other teams is their ability to get up and down the court, which Bishop believes is the “key because for the style we play, you have to be in good shape.”
The coaching staff is also an important aspect of the team’s success. “They’re al-ways supporting us, helping us with our injuries, and making sure we are playing to the best of our ability,” said Boggs. Bishop was previously the junior varsity coach for seven years and is now enjoying his sec-ond year with varsity. The varsity assistant coaches are Charles Kraftover and Victor Sanders. Kraftover has been helping the team for five years while this is Sanders’s first year. Nicole Jeffers was Bishop’s assis-tant on junior varsity for three years be-fore being promoted to head junior varsity coach after Bishop. Jeffers has now been the junior varsity head coach for two years, as-sisted by Roger Jones. The coaching team is definitely a big source of encouragement and motivation for the Cougars.
Although the season still has about time remaining, the community is already be-ginning to dread the absence of the four seniors next year. Starters McNeal and Wright, along with Mackenzie Ferguson and Josie Juhring will be sincerely missed in the future. Besides being a powerhouse on the court, Wright is known amongst the team for being energetic and able to put a smile on anyone’s face; she enjoys playing for the team and will miss being the “energizer bunny” at practice. McNeal can be heard encouraging her teammates during practices and games and will miss the “intensity” of it all. Ferguson plays her heart out in every game, and Juhring can be found at the end of starting lineup giv-ing out handshakes.
To keep updated with the team, you can find them on Instagram @qogirlsbasketball and on Twitter @qohsgirlsbball.
Photo | Madison Hunt
QO Girls Basketball is one to keep an eye on with (L to R, back) Captain Paige McNeal, Junior Captain Alex Boggs and (front) Captain Makayla Wright.
DonHoffacker’s
Air Conditioning& Heating, Inc.
“We have been given top ratings for both price & quality by a local, prominent consumer group.”
SALES • SERVICE • INSTALLATIONSHEAT PUMPS
HUMIDIFIERS AND FURNACES19703 Waters RoadGermantown, MD 20874 301-972-0017
check us out on angieslist.com
to lead the team in scoring. Parisotto is proud of the team’s improvement in the shootout. “We have just been building our chemistry, working to-gether and getting better every day. Overall, I played pretty well, but there is room for me to improve to help my team.”
Quince Orchard displayed a strong transition game all weekend, scoring many points on the fast break and jumping out to early leads. They han-dled Owings Mills, winning by 26 points.
Coach Paul Foringer was satisfied with the way his team played, but he emphasized the keys for success. “I like the way we played. The only thing is that there are times when we don’t find each other.” Foringer added that when the team plays as “five guys, one unit,” they are hard to beat. Fo-ringer said they executed their game plan versus Urbana better than against Owings Mills, and noted they would continue to work on “finding the open guy.”
Foringer also noted all of the obsta-cles this team has overcome, including losing two starting players. This, he said, is why he loves coaching them. The team’s youth is “the shocking part” of their success, he said. “These guys are young; we only have one re-turning starter from last year. They have been working so hard together. They are so fun to coach.”
n BOYS’ BASKETBALL from page 10
Page 12 THE TOWN COURIER January 17, 2020
MHIC #1871 • DC #7875
Family-owned and operated for over 60 years
n
Montgomery County’s leading Home Exterior Remodeler
Specializing in:
Roofing n Siding n Windows n Gutters
Find out why all YOUR
neighbors are choosing
301.881.2424
www.CentralExteriors.com*Not valid with any other offers. Up to $500 off.
Mention this ad and we’ll take 10% OFF any replacement job — and don’t forget our
discounted pricing for GROUPS!*
You never want to need an attorney,
but if and when you do, we are here for you.
DIVORCECUSTODYVISITATIONCHILD SUPPORT ALIMONYDIVISION OF PROPERTYRETIREMENT ASSETSSEPARATION AGREEMENTS
As Family Law Attorneys we assist clients with domestic relations matters including:
Allison McFadden 240-399-7821 [email protected]
Rama Taib-Lopez 240-399-7880 [email protected]
www.jgllaw.com
