May 20, 2016

Gaithersburg’s Hometown Newspaper | Serving Kentlands, Lakelands, Quince Orchard Park and More
The
TOWN
Vol. 14, No. 10
Courier
www.towncourier.com
May 20, 2016
Book Festival Coming May 21
By Gina Gallucci-White
W
Photos | City of Gaithersburg
Local authors Alexis Frederick-Frost and Syl
Sobel are two of 112 authors appearing at the
Gaithersburg Book Festival May 21.
experts on (subjects) are coming to
bring the world to our doorstep. If
you have an interest in any sort of
topic whatsoever, chances are there
is a conversation—a very educated,
excellent, enlightening conversation—going on at the book festival
about that topic. One of the things
I’ve always said to people who say ‘I
don’t have time to read books’ is this
festival isn’t about a bunch of people
cracking open books and reading
together in silence. It’s really about
conversation and what’s going on in
the world. What are the great ideas,
the great truths and the great characters?”
One new aspect to this year’s
festival is the Brew and Vine Cafe
from Dawson’s Market where folks
can get a gourmet snack, a glass of
wine or a pint of beer while visit-
Photo | Mac Kennedy
Kentlands Day Grand Marshals John Schlichting and Ailene Renzi led the Kentlands Day Parade down
Center Point Way on Saturday, May 7. Kicks Karate was one of many community groups in the parade.
While there is no definite number for event turnout, Jennifer Matheson, with event organizer Market
Square Merchants Board of Trade, estimated that at least 5,000 people attended. Some 80 local businesses and nonprofits participated in the 8th annual event.
ing. “We have had some requests
from the public that say, ‘It’s nice to
have a glass of wine and talk books.’
Just like people do in their book
clubs, this is bringing the home experience to the book festival,” Ashman said.
Patrons will get to hear panel discussions, attend book signings and
try different writing workshops.
Frederick-Frost will be participating in the Graphic Arts Panel discussion and signing copies of his
books, including his latest “Gry-
mont. The “Cartooning” series idea
came from an exercise at the school
where authors focused on creating simple shapes for characters so
they could concentrate more on
storytelling. The books are aimed
at middle schoolers but can appeal
to younger and older kids. His next
book “Ogres Awake!” is set to be
published in mid-July.
“Being an author is doing the
publicity and going to different
festivals around the country and
n book festival Continued on page 7
QO boys finish fifth, Dylan Bikim wins high jump
By Jennifer Beekman
Photo | Mac Kennedy
Per the City of Gaithersburg, a temporary wall needs to be built outside between the Peppers
patio and ongoing renovations for the future Vasilis restaurant before Peppers can reopen.
Anticipation Subdued by
Anxiety as Peppers Taco
Bar Fights to Reopen
By Pam Schipper
The Town Courier
309 Main Street
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
phons Aren’t So Great.”
Frederick-Frost drew comics as
a kid. He would watch the 1960s
show “Batman” and recreate a new
domestic comic with the Caped
Cruiser going to a grocery store
or meeting up with Bat Girl at an
amusement park. “They weren’t
fighting crime,” he said. “They
weren’t fighting anybody.”
He met his co-authors, Andrew
Arnold and James Sturm, while
part of the inaugural class of the
Center for Cartoon Studies in Ver-
NW Boys Win County Championship,
Fall Just Short of Meet Scoring Record
PRSRT-STD
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Gaithersburg MD
Permit #1722
hen coming to Gaithersburg to explore the area
for a potential move from
Philadelphia, children’s book author Alexis Frederick-Frost got lost
downtown. “We drove directly
into the traffic for the Gaithersburg
Book Festival,” he said. “We parked
in a parking garage, came down and
immediately went straight to the
book festival and thought it was an
extraordinary, positive sign to have
such a vibrant festival and literary
community right there. ... We were
really excited. We were like, ‘We
can call this place home.’”
A resident now for two years,
Frederick-Frost, who is the co-author and illustrator for the “Adventures in Cartooning” book series,
will be one of the featured authors
during the annual book festival set
to take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
on Saturday, May 21 at the Gaithersburg City Hall grounds. Begun
in 2010, the festival brings in hundreds of award-winning and bestselling authors, poets and songwriters from across the country.
“Even if you don’t love books or
don’t think that you love books,
this is a great event,” said Mayor
Jud Ashman, event creator. “It’s
a time where some of the world’s
M
emorial Day is almost here.
With it comes the unofficial but much-anticipated
start of summer with days full of
poolside relaxation and fun, barbecues with friends and family, and
outdoor dining at favorite restaurants. Mike and Jyoti Bhatnagar,
W
ith the caliber of athlete
Northwest High School
boys’ track and field has
churned out in recent years—Virginia Tech freshman Diego Zarate
and University of Pittsburgh recruit
Shyheim Wright among them—it’s
understandable those filling out
the Jaguars’ largely unrivaled depth
chart fly under the radar. But, if
anyone paid much attention to
the times and distances posted by
Northwest’s second and third boys
in any given event, they would realize just how close they are to the
top. It’s the valuable points picked
up by those athletes, Jaguars’ coach
Robert Youngblood said, that have
enabled Northwest to become so
n track Continued on page 18
owners of Peppers Taco Bar at 705
Center Point Way, look forward to
Memorial Day each year. This is
when customers gather to dine outdoors in the corner space on Kentlands Market Square.
This year, the Bhatnagars’ ann
problems at peppers
Continued on page 10
Photo | Submitted
Jaguars’ freshman Taylor Wright won three individual events in the 100 and 200 dash and the
triple jump.
Page 2
The Town Courier
May 20, 2016
May 20, 2016 The Town Courier
Page 3
Retired U.S. Navy Dental Surgeon
Remains Dedicated to Patient Care
By Ellyn Wexler
D
avid Bitonti took it to the limit.
After three decades in the U.S.
Navy, the 56-year-old oral and
maxillofacial surgeon and dental anesthesiologist had to call it quits in the
military—that’s the law. But he was
not about to give up the profession he
loves only to be confined to relaxing in
a rocking chair. He knew he had more
work to do. “I’d be bored stiff if I were
completely retired now,” Dr. Bitonti
said.
And he found just the right spot with a
former military colleague who started a
practice after his own retirement. Since
March, Dr. Bitonti has been commuting
from his Kentlands home to Will Surgical Arts, LLC in Ijamsville to work on
medical and dental problems associated
with the face, mouth, jaws and teeth.
He spent much of the months since his
August retirement from the Navy doing volunteer work—and filling out
the paperwork to obtain the necessary
licenses.
“The practice of medicine is very
similar,” said Dr. Bitonti, comparing his
former and current workplaces. “But
the population is a little bit different.” In
the Navy, based at Walter Reed, most of
his patients were younger, although he
also treated some retirees; now his practice extends to individuals of all ages.
“I’ve always enjoyed seeing patients,
even when I had more administrative
positions. I’ve met some wonderful people—especially working with Wounded
Warriors.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in
chemistry from St. Vincent College and
a dental degree from the University of
Pittsburgh’s School of Dental Medicine,
the Hempfield, Pennsylvania, native
enlisted in the Navy, where his assignments included serving aboard the aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, and the
submarine, the USS Holland. The Navy
supported his advancement in his field.
Photo | Submitted
Kentlands resident Dr. David Bitonti, recently retired from the U.S. Navy, practices at Will Surgical
Arts, LLC in Ijamsville where he treats medical and
dental problems associated with the face, mouth,
jaws and teeth.
At the Naval Dental Clinic in Norfolk,
Virginia, Dr. Bitonti completed an advanced clinical program certificate in
exodontia (extraction of teeth) and at
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, he earned a
surgery residency certificate in oral and
maxillofacial surgery.
For much of his Naval career, Dr.
Bitonti worked in Bethesda at the National Naval and Walter Reed National
Military medical centers, and then at the
merged entity, the tri-service medical
facility known since 2011 as the Walter
Reed National Military Medical Center.
Over the years, his titles included commanding officer; senior military advisor
to the commander; chief of staff; deputy
commander; director for surgical services; chairman and residency program
associate director, oral and maxillofacial surgery; and specialty advisor to the
U.S. Navy Surgeon General.
From 2009 to 2011, the captain was
instrumental in integrating and transitioning to the unified medical center,
and won the Legion of Merit for his
leadership during the process. In 2013,
he became commander of Naval Sup-
port Activity Bethesda, responsible for
operational support to Walter Reed, the
Warrior Transition Brigade and more
than 30 other agencies.
Prompted by two dental issues promoted by professional dental organizations during April, Dr. Bitonti said
he wants to raise awareness in his own
community. National Facial Protection
Month emphasized reminding adults
and children about using personal protection equipment—like mouth guards,
face shields and helmets—to avoid
sports-related injuries. Oral, Head and
Neck Cancer Awareness Week advocated a knowledge of symptoms, routine
self-examination, and at least annual
regular screenings by a dentist because
early detection is important for treatment and cure.
All the moving around geographically and long hours at work meant sacrifice from Dr. Bitonti’s family—Lisa,
his wife of almost 32 years, and their
two children. If his beeper beckoned the
doctor when he had promised to watch
a T-ball game, they had to understand.
And Lisa, who came from a Navy family and knew well what it involved, selflessly took on extra parenting duties.
A benefit came in the form of solid
family values—a dedication to service
and a habit of volunteer work—that DJ,
29, expresses in his work as a medical
support assistant at the medical center
and Alexandra, 25, in her work as coordinator of sports programs for the
United Service Organizations (USO).
Also residing in the Bitontis’ Kent Oaks
Way home is Bobbie, an eight-year-old
Goldador, bred to have a Golden Retriever’s sensitivity and a Labrador Retriever’s tolerance. The family adopted
the retired service dog that Lisa takes
along to her ongoing volunteer work at
the medical center.
“What has allowed me to do what
I do is my family,” Dr. Bitonti said.
“Their love, support and understanding
have made it all possible.”
QO Lacrosse Teams Overcome Challenges
By Jennifer Beekman
A
fter tryouts in March, Quince
Orchard High School boys’ lacrosse coach David Heiney Gonzalez decided to keep sophomore attackman Mike Fierstein on the junior varsity
squad and give him more time to develop. But when injuries and availability issues due to SATs left the Cougars
short players the first week of the season,
Heiney Gonzalez brought Fierstein up
to varsity. He’s been a starter ever since,
and his 20 points (13 goals, seven assists)
rank sixth on the team.
That’s the type of season it’s been
for Quince Orchard, which fell, 13-8,
to Frederick County power Urbana in
Monday’s Class 4A/3A West Region
Section II final. The Cougars (9-8) had
a lot of questions to answer this spring
after graduating 17 seniors from last
AROUNDTOWN
Compiled by Pam Schipper
Photo | Pam Schipper
The inaugural Kentlands Under the Lights featured strolling performers
and drew more than 3,000 people.
Mark Your Calendar
Due to the overwhelming success and community
support for this event last year, Kentlands Under the
Lights returns to Kentlands Market Square on Saturday,
June 18, 6 to 11 p.m. More than 3,000 people attended
the inaugural event, which was developed as part of
Kentland’s 25th anniversary celebration.
The concept is simple: good food, good drink and
good friends paired with live, strolling entertainment
beneath the evening sky. It was inspired by Ailene and
Silvio Renzi’s’ trip to Siena, Italy, where each year town
residents gather in a similar fashion. “When my wife
Ailene and I saw the community celebration in Siena,
Italy, we thought, ‘This is the type of event that epitomizes a community like the Kentlands,’” said Silvio
Renzi, co-chairman of the committee planning the
second annual Kentlands Under the Lights community
dinner.
Attendance is free and open to everyone. Food from
local restaurants and an assortment of local beers and
wines offered by the Wine Harvest will be available for
purchase. Beneath a canopy of lights, dining tables and
tents of food will be set up on Market Square and surrounding streets (Market Street East and Market Street
West from Center Point Way to Main Street).
Space is available for local restaurants interested in
selling menu items. The fee is $300 for a 10’ x 10’ tent
at the dinner. Restaurants interested in reserving a tent
for food sales may contact organizers John Ingrassia at
240.832.0557 or Silvio Renzi at 240.449-7115.
Happy Treasure Hunting
If you like yard sales, then you’re in luck. Kentlands
and Lakelands are holding community yard sales on
the same day—Saturday, June 4, beginning at 8 a.m.
The Lakelands Spring Community Yard Sale will run
until noon at the Four Corners Park on the corner of
Lakelands Drive and Gatestone Street. The Kentlands
Community Yard Sale continues until 1 p.m. on the
Kentlands Clubhouse Lawn and around town in private
yards and garages. Drop by the Kentlands Clubhouse for
a map of participating homes.
Kentlands Memorial Day Bash
Photo | Mac Kennedy
Julian Culp takes on Watkins Mill in the Cougars’ last home playoff game.
year’s region final campaign, but young
and sometimes unexpected talent surfaced to help support the little experience Quince Orchard did bring back,
keep the Cougars afloat, and put them in
position to make a deep postseason run.
Sophomore long-stick middie Match
Hanson was another junior varsity player Heiney Gonzalez pulled up in the
middle of the season. He turned out to
be an impact player, playing 10 games
and scoring three goals.
“There were a lot of great surprises,”
n
qo lacrosse Continued on page 18
Open to Kentlands residents only, the annual Memorial Day Bash on Monday, May 30, noon to 2 p.m. on
the Kentlands Clubhouse Lawn is a great opportunity
to visit with neighbors and kick off the summer grilling
season. The Kentlands Citizens Assembly supplies the
grills, sides, beverages and live music by The Built 4
Comfort Band. Just bring your own meat or vegetables
to grill.
Lakelands Pool Opening Party
Lakelands offers its annual Pool Opening Party sponsored by The Prigal Brothers and Associates on Saturday, May 28, 1 to 4 p.m. Lakelands residents are invited
to swim and enjoy a dunk tank, reconnect with neighbors, and listen to music.
Page 4
The Town Courier
May 20, 2016
assignmenteducation
Compiled by Pam Schipper
309 Main Street
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
For Advertising: 301.279.2304
Also on the Web at www.towncourier.com.
Diane Dorney
Publisher
[email protected]
Matt Danielson
President
[email protected]
Pam Schipper
Managing Editor
[email protected]
Debi Rosen
Advertising Manager
301.455.5721
[email protected]
Leslie Kennedy
Advertising Sales
301-330-0132
[email protected]
Staff Photographers
Arthur Cadeaux
Christine DartonHenrichsen
Phil Fabrizio
Staff Writers
Sally Alt
Jennifer Beekman
Nora Caplan
Mike Cuthbert
Gina Gallucci-White
Sharon Allen Gilder
Betty Hafner
Scott Harris
Sheilah Kaufman
Donna Marks
Syl Sobel
Maureen Stiles
Ellyn Wexler
Social Media
Consultant
Mac Kennedy
©2016 Courier Communications
The Town Courier is an independent newspaper
published twice a month that provides news and information for the communities of Kentlands, Lakelands and Quince Orchard Park in Gaithersburg, Md.
The paper is published by Courier Communications,
which is responsible for the form, content and policies
of the newspaper. The Town Courier does not espouse
any political belief or endorse any product or service
in its news coverage. Articles and letters submitted
for publication must be signed and may be edited for
length or content. The Town Courier is not responsible for any claims made by advertisers Letters to the
Editor and Commentary do not necessarily reflect the
views of the staff, management or advertisers of The
Town Courier.
Photo | Submitted
Country stars Maddie (L) and Tae (R) congratulate
Northwest High School students Tye Gray (center L),
Miranda Pierce (center) and Chris Hall (center R)
for their prize-winning video in the Starkey Hearing
Foundation national Listen Carefully hearing
health campaign.
Photo | Submitted
Logan Feingold, Natalie Rubin and Tanay Wakhare competed in the semifinal round of “It’s Academic” on April 16.
QO Academic Team
Competes in Championships
After winning in the semifinals against
Rockville and Montgomery Blair April 16 on
NBC4’s “It’s Academic,” the Quince Orchard
Academic Team advanced to the championship rounds. This was taped in NBC4’s D.C.
studio on Saturday, May 14. The competition
will air June 25, 10:30 a.m. on NBC.
New Northwest Principal Named
James D’Andrea, former Northwest
High School assistant principal and current
Kingsview Middle School principal, has
been selected to succeed Lance Dempsey as
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principal of Northwest High School, effective July 1. “Mr. D’Andrea is a passionate
instructional leader who is committed to
fostering a welcoming school environment
in which students and staff are engaged as
learners,” wrote Brian Scriven, MCPS director of school support and improvement
of high schools. In addition to many past
honors, D’Andrea received the Montgomery County Junior Councils Middle School
Principal of the Year Award in 2015.
Current Northwest Principal Lance
Dempsey will become MCPS Associate
Superintendent of Human Resources and
Development on July 1. She has been the
principal at Northwest for seven years.
RCES Bike to
School Day Rescheduled
Inclement weather forced the rescheduling of Bike to School Day at Rachel Carson Elementary School. It will now be held
on Tuesday, May 31. The ride, which will
include school administrators, parents, students, and city staff, begins at the intersection of Main Street and Rt. 28 at 8 a.m.
Next Year Brings Grading Changes
Larry Bowers, interim superintendent of
schools, announced a new semester grade
calculation system that assigns “quality
points” to each marking period letter grade
(A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, E = 0) and averages these for the semester grade. The new
semester grade calculation for high school
courses uses the same quality point calcula-
Northwest Students Win ‘Listen
Carefully’ Competition
Northwest High School freshman
Miranda Pierce, sophomore Christopher Hall and senior Tye Gray won first
place in the national Listen Carefully
competition, highlighting the growing
epidemic of teenage hearing loss and
sponsored by Starkey Hearing Foundation. The students’ video, entitled
“Give Your Ears a Rest – 4SW,” was
voted the best among hundreds of entries. To see the first-place video, visit
www.listencarefully.org/video-contest.
Other finalists and their parents were
flown to D.C. for the Listen Carefully
celebration at Northwest High School
on Saturday, May 14. Country Music
Association and Radio Disney Music
Awards duo Maddie & Tae joined Starkey Hearing Foundation for the awards
ceremony and performed live in the
Northwest High School auditorium.
tion currently used in middle school courses
and summer school.
Teachers and parents have voiced concern
that in some instances the new system inflates grades. For example, when a student
has a low A and a low B for the first two
marking periods, under the old system, the
semester grade would be a B. Under the new
system, the average of the quality points
would be a 3.5 or an A.
According to Bowers, “This new grading
calculation aligns with standards-based approaches to assessment and college expectations and provides a grading structure that is
fair, consistent, and understandable for students and parents.”
May 20, 2016 The Town Courier
cityscene
Gaithersburg Named Most Diverse
U.S. City
For the second year, Gaithersburg is
WalletHub’s most diverse city in America.
WalletHub, a personal finance website,
ranked 313 of the most populated areas.
Gaithersburg was number one for ethnoracial diversity and number two for social
class diversity, earning it the overall
number one spot. To explore Gaithersburg’s
demographics, visit www.gaithersburgmd.
g ov/about- g a it her sbu rg /prof i le - a nd history/demographics.
Local Businesses Man Bike to Work
Day Pit Stop
On Friday, May 20, the City of Gaithersburg will host one of more than 80 Pit Stops
throughout the D.C. region as part of Bike
to Work Day, hosted by Commuter Connections and the Washington Area Bicyclist
Association.
The Gaithersburg Pit Stop is located
at the corner of MD Route 119 (Great
Seneca Highway) and Orchard Ridge
Drive. Register in advance at www.
biketoworkmetrodc.org to qualify for a free
t-shirt. Then cycle over to the Gaithersburg
Pit Stop from 7 to 9 a.m. on May 20 for
POLICEBeat
refreshments, entertainment and the chance
to win some great raffle prizes. Participating
businesses include Drink More Water,
Zengo Cycles, Whole Foods – Kentlands,
Pinky & Pepe’s Grape Escape, Potomac
Village Deli, Performance Bicycle, Not Your
Average Joe’s, Integrated Environmental
Management, Inc., Growlers, Giant Food,
Fleet Feet Sports, Cold Stone Creamery,
Coal Fire Pizza, Bark! Pawsitive Petfood,
&Pizza, and Cava Mezza Grill. For more
information, visit www.biketoworkmetrodc.
org/archives/2473
Building for New Public Safety
Facility Purchased
Settlement on the property at 16 S. Summit Ave. was completed. The building will
be renovated to become the new home for
the City of Gaithersburg Police. According
to City Manager Tony Tomasello, the next
steps are architectural design and completion
of construction documents during fiscal year
2017.
City Staff Provide Lessons Learned
from 2016 Blizzard
Staff from the Department of Public
Works and the Public Information Office
By Gina Gallucci-White
Members of Local Explorers Post Will
Attend Queen’s Birthday Celebration
M
embers of the Montgomery County Police Explorers Post 1986 are
used to seeing how members of the
Gaithersburg Police Department keep the
peace in the land of Stars and Stripes. During
one upcoming week in June, they will get
to see how officers defending the Union Jack
work together.
Four explorers and four program advisors
will be heading to England from June 8 to
15. “We started an exchange program with
an explorer cadet program over in London,”
said George Stephens, program senior advisor. “We brought them here last year, so this
year we are going to take our kids over there
to be a part of the queen’s celebration.” The
post will be visiting the cadet program for the
Metropolitan Police called Volunteer Police
Cadets.
England’s Queen Elizabeth officially
turned 90 on April 21, but her official birthday celebration is set to take place the weekend of June 10 to 12. The itinerary is still
being finalized but the explorers know they
will be involved with the “Trooping the
Colours” event at Buckingham Palace, the
queen’s official residence, and a parade at the
police training school.
Last year was the first for the exchange
program. Stephens made contact with one
of the leaders of the London program and
“just made it happen.” The London program
brought over 12 cadets and four advisors during the United States observance of National
Police Week, which occurs annually in midMay.
Group members have been busy fundraising to pay for this trip and another one to a
national Explorer post competition this summer in Flagstaff, Arizona. There will be 16
post members attending along with six advisors. “Between the two trips, it will cost us
about $40,000,” Stephens said. They have a
GoFundMe page and have done numerous
events including silent auctions, selling goods
and restaurant events where a portion of the
profits benefits the group.
Stephens is “looking forward to seeing
my new friends that we made last year ‘cause
we made some really good friends. I am just
looking forward to seeing them and seeing
how their post interacts on their turf. When
you come over here, you have to act different. They were great, but I want to see how
they run things.”
The trip to London will be a good experience for the participants because it will get
them out of their comfort zone, said Gaithersburg Police Department Officer Dan Lane, a
senior advisor for the program. “It gives them
(a chance to) experience a whole other way
of life. Here, they see our police officers. We
are armed. We have a duty belt full of different tools and resources available to us. You
go across there and you have to learn your
verbal judo—learning how to talk to people
and actually engage them with conversation,
assess the situation without having a duty belt
of different tools. It puts them in that perspective of ‘OK. It’s me and another person.’
(They will) see how different it is there. They
don’t carry guns for police officers over there.
It’s a different way of life completely versus
what we have here. A lot of these (explorers)
haven’t been out of this country to see how
other cultures interact with each other.”
Page 5
provided an after-action report to the Mayor
and City Council on May 9, recommending
operational and communication enhancements following January’s Storm Jonas that
brought a record 36 inches of snow to the
city. Among the suggestions are removing
rather than plowing snow in certain neighborhoods, increasing the number of contractors to assist with removal, especially at city
facilities (thus allowing Public Works staff to
concentrate on roads), developing strategic
removal plans for bus shelters, conducting
a “snow etiquette” outreach and education
campaign prior to winter, creating easy-touse maps of city boundaries, and better communicating where residents should submit
service requests.
Gaithersburg Student Named
District Semi-finalist in ‘If I Were
Mayor…’ Contest
Gaithersburg student Mahita Damodara
has some great ideas on how to make Gaithersburg a healthier, happier and safer place to
live. Her “Happy Town” essay was named
a District 5 semi-finalist in the “If I Were
Mayor …” Maryland Municipal League
(MML) contest, held in partnership with
the Maryland Mayors’ Association and the
Chesapeake Employers Insurance Company.
In her essay, Damodara said that if she
were mayor, she would “work with schools
to teach kids about the importance of leading
a healthy lifestyle by making the right food
choices, exercising and staying away from
Compiled by Pam Schipper
bad habits. The children can inform their
families so that they will change and become
healthy. I would also ask for feedback from
the citizens, on what else we can do, to support the healthy habits of Happy Town.”
Damodara, who is a student in Ms. Erin
Turner’s class at Diamond Elementary
School, will read her essay at the Gaithersburg Mayor and City Council meeting on June 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall
Council Chambers.
Pam Truxal Receives 2016
Community Leadership Award
The President’s Council on Fitness, Sports
& Nutrition selected Pam Truxal, a program
supervisor with the City of Gaithersburg Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture,
as a recipient of its 2016 Community Leadership Award. The award is given annually to
individuals and organizations that improve
the lives of others within their community
by providing or enhancing opportunities to
engage in sports, physical activities, fitness,
and nutrition-related programs.
Truxal was nominated for recently organizing two recreation activities geared toward older adults. Pin Busters is a weekly
bowling program for adults over the age of
55. Pickleball, which is a combination of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, has proven
to be so popular with the city’s older adults
that a second weekly session has been added.
Page 6
The Town Courier
shoptalk
Compiled by Pam Schipper
Photo | Mac Kennedy
Chris and Robyn Gault (R), owners of Fleet Feet
Gaithersburg, join others in their Cinco de
Mayo Fun Run.
Doce de Mayo This Year
What happens when you endure
more than two weeks of rain? Fun is
postponed! Fleet Feet Gaithersburg’s
rescheduled Cinco de Mayo Fun Run
and Walk took place Thursday, May 12.
The 2.5-mile run/walk was followed
by free beer, chips and salsa donated by
Kentlands Chipotle, as well as prizes
and a piñata. The event was sponsored
by ASICS. www.fleetfeetgaithersburg.
com
Summer Farmers Market Open
The summer Main Street Market debuted Saturday, May 7, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
with new and returning artisans, as well
as an expanded array of fresh food, bakery items and plants. Artisans included
Aluminaries jewelry, Lauren Graham
Pottery, Marti’s Art 2 Craft glass art,
n
shop talk Continued on page 11
May 20, 2016
Tuberous-Sclerosis Complex Poses Many Challenges
By Sharon Allen Gilder
P
atrons, friends and family gathered at
Pinky & Pepe’s Grape Escape on Friday, May 13 to pause for a cause. Wine
personality and local manager for Siema
Wines, Nick Materese, poured wine for the
free wine tasting while musicians Billy James
and Brad Vaughn kept the good vibrations
going with cover favorites from country to
rock to oldies to today. The libations, music,
and camaraderie were a welcome show of
support for the evening’s focus to raise monies and awareness for the genetic disorder
Tuberous-Sclerosis Complex (TSC) that has
impacted Gaithersburg teen Tony Rasavage
since he was one year old. Rasavage is the
17-year-old grandson of Gaithersburg City
Councilmember Henry Marraffa.
The event helped kick off the May 15 5K
walk/run on the National Mall in support of
TSC’s Global Awareness Day. Marraffa, who
is battling leukemia, said this was the first
year he was not able to participate in TSC’s
5K but he “appreciates all the support from
my friends. We all work together, so this is
one of many worthy causes that need to be
addressed.”
According to information on the National
Institute of Health’s website, TSC is a “rare,
multi-system genetic disease that causes benign tumors to grow in the brain and on
other vital organs such as the kidneys, heart,
eyes, lungs and skin. It usually affects the
central nervous system and results in a combination of symptoms including seizures, developmental delay, behavioral problems, skin
abnormalities, and kidney disease.” TSC af-
Photo | Mac Kennedy
(L to R) Pepe and Pinky Rogers hosted a fundraiser Friday, May 13, for the genetic disorder Tuberous-Sclerosis Complex
that has impacted teen Rasavage, photographed here with his parents, Dina and Mark Rasavage.
fects as many as 25,000 to 40,000 individuals
in the United States and occurs in all races
and ethnic groups, and in both genders.
Information on Rasavage’s “Team Tony”
TS Alliance page states: “More than 80%
of individuals with TSC will experience a
seizure at some point in their lifetime and
approximately 70% of those have intractable
epilepsy. Approximately 50% of individuals
with TSC will be diagnosed with autism and
80% with kidney involvement.” Rasavage,
who has undergone 17 MRIs since his initial
diagnosis, is more mildly affected than most
diagnosed with the disease, but he still has
many manifestations. He has been on seizure medication since the age of one and has
developed several benign tumors: two small
tumors in his brain, one in his eye, and five
tumors on his kidneys. As long as they remain small, nothing will be done.
Marraffa emphasized that “TSC is a serious disease. … The kids go from one extreme
to the other where they can be fully handicapped or ‘almost normal.’ We’re fortunate
that Tony is in the ‘almost normal’… so it’s a
scare every year to see how the growths are
going. … It’s a big fight and a big charity that
we’ve supported for years.”
Tony’s mother, Dina Rasavage, said that
her son’s health challenges when he was
younger were “definitely different than the
challenges we have now. … When he was
little we didn’t know if he would be autistic, will he learn, will he speak, will he be
able to function as an independent person?
So as he started to grow, and we saw that
he was not developing autism, that he was
developing at a somewhat average pace, we
worried about his health in the future and
other health challenges that come up as you
become older with this disease, such as the
tumors in his kidneys that have just started
n
fundraiser Continued on page 11
The Town Courier
May 20, 2016 Page 7
arts& entertainment sell health and beauty products, jewelry, purses, quilts, clothing, photographs, children’s
accessories, yard art, knitted items and more.
Please call 301.258.6350 for more information.
Master Gardeners
Photo | Submitted
Rochelle’s Rice’s dynamic and versatile sound marries the folk and soul singers of the ‘60s and ‘70s
and the edgy contemporary jazz artists of today.
Rochelle Rice: Summer Love Songs
June 4, 8 p.m., Arts Barn
Rochelle Rice, selected as Best Jazz
Vocalist (2013) by Washington City
Paper Jazzy Awards, is a dynamic and
compelling vocalist and songwriter.
This artist on the rise will take you on a
journey through the many faces of love
with her arrangements of some of the
most beautiful love songs ever written.
$25 for adults; $12 for youth (18 and
under). www.gaithersburgmd.gov
Gaithersburg Book Festival
May 21, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Gaithersburg City Hall
The 7th annual Gaithersburg Book Festival
will feature more than 100 authors participating in book signing and panel discussions, a
Children’s Village, new and used books for
sale, and interactive writing workshops for
people of all ages. Winners of the high school
short story contest will also be announced at
the event. Free. www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org
Main Street Farmers and
Artists Market
May 21, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Quince Orchard Library
Do you have a question for a Master Gardener? Master Gardeners give advice on vegetables, trees, lawns, shrubs, insects and pruning. Visitors can bring plant samples or photos
for Master Gardeners to identify or diagnose.
Please call 240.777.0200 for information.
‘The Foreigner’
May 20, 21, 22, 27, 28 & 29, 8 p.m. Fridays &
Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays, Arts Barn, presented
in partnership with Sandy Spring Theatre Group
A fishing lodge in Georgia provides a retreat for Charlie, a shy British gentleman.
His plan for solitude turns awry, however,
when his friend introduces him as an exotic foreigner who doesn’t speak English.
Charlie soon becomes the focal point of
Southern hospitality and discovers mysterious schemes with hysterical results. $20 for
adults; $12 for children (ages 14 and under)
www.gaithersburgmd.gov
Celtic Harp Duo
May 21, 3 p.m., Quince Orchard Library
The Celtic Harp Duo of Judith Mostyn
White and Mimi NcNeel will perform a musical exploration of romantic love, as well as
love of country, children, food and drink,
animals and music. Please call 240.777.0200
for information.
May 22, 7:30 p.m., Gaithersburg Presbyterian
Church
The concert features songs in a variety
of genres with the theme “For the Beauty
of the Earth.” The Gaithersburg Chorus,
under the direction of a new conductor, is
■ book festival
Sobel told a friend about the book, and that
friend suggested he try to get it published.
He sent letters off to 50 publishers and two
months later got a call from a publisher wanting the book. While finishing the first book,
his youngest daughter Izzy asked for her own
book, and this later became the book “Presidential Elections and Other Cool Facts” that
he will discuss at the festival.
Each book, six so far, has been a family affair with the girls going to the library with
him on the weekend to help with research.
They would read the book, and he would
ask them questions to see if they understood.
“This way, I could tell if I was reaching that
audience because I had two critics—believe
me, they were good critics, eager critics, in
fact—right in-house.”
Marissa graduated with a master’s degree
this month in museum studies, so Sobel asks
her for helpful hints on research. Izzy is web
editor at a consulting firm, so he plans to ask
for her advice on building a website and blog
for his writing ideas. His wife, Joan, handles
his schedule and is the bookkeeper. “It’s still a
family thing,” he said.
This is Sobel’s second time doing the festival. “It’s always fun,” he said. “It’s a great
(event) the city does. I am glad to be a part
of it.”
from page 1
Canada,” Frederick-Frost said. “Gaithersburg’s is really well run. It has a great vibe to
it. All the organizers are so passionate and so
friendly. They get great authors here. ... It’s
one I would not miss even if I didn’t live here.
It would definitely be on my list of things to
attend.”
Sly Sobel, who writes for The Town Courier, will be appearing at the Rock the Vote
panel and signing copies of his second book
“Presidential Elections and Other Cool
Facts”—now in its fourth printing.
The North Potomac resident became an
author thanks to his two daughters. One
night in 1997, while reading The Washington Post’s Kids Page on how the United States
government works, his oldest daughter Marissa, who was in first grade at the time, asked
him to write a book for her on the subject.
He was working as director of publications
for a federal government agency—a position
he retires from this month. “I used to tell my
kids that my job was to make books for the
government,” he said. Sobel ended up with 13
typed pages titled, “How the U.S. Government Works.” “She was just delighted that I
made a book for her,” he recalled.
May 24 & 31, 7-8 p.m., Gaithersburg City Hall
Concert Pavilion
Hundreds of America flags, sponsored by
residents and businesses to honor local heroes,
will be on display May 28-30. The event is
coordinated by the Rotary Clubs of Montgomery Village and Gaithersburg. www.
flagsforourheroes.org
Bring a yoga mat, blanket or towel. Beginners
are welcome. Free. www.gaithersburgmd.gov
Memorial Day Observance
Yoga in the Park
Kentlands Acoustic Jam
May 24, 6 p.m., Kentlands Clubhouse
Bring an acoustic instrument to play
or just listen. www.reverbnation.com/
kentlandsacousticjam
Zumba in the Park
May 27, 7-8 p.m., Gaithersburg City Hall
Concert Pavilion
Zumba dance classes combine fast and
slow Latin rhythms and include the Tango,
Salsa, Cumbia and Reggaeton. Free. www.
gaithersburgmd.gov
Water Park at Bohrer Park Season
Opening
May 28, 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m., 512 South
Frederick Ave.
Daily admission is $5.75 for City of Gaithersburg residents and $10 for nonresidents on
weekdays and $16 on weekends and holidays.
www.gaithersburgmd.gov
Flag for Our Heroes Opening
Ceremony
May 28, 11 a.m., Bohrer Park at Summit Hall
Farm
May 30, 11 a.m., Christman Park
This observance pays tribute to Gaithersburg’s sons and daughters who have sacrificed
for their country. Participants can fill out a
card and bring a 4x6 photograph for a Book
of Tribute honoring family and friends who
serve. Guests can also help homeless veterans
by supporting the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless (MCCH), which provides homeless veterans with safe and affordable homes. Please consider donating supplies.
at www.gaithersburgmd.gov.
Evenings in Olde Towne – Cadence
June 2, 6-7:30 p.m., City Hall Concert Pavilion
This Canadian a cappella ensemble performs around the world and brings an infectious energy to every song they sing.
www.gaithersburgmd.gov
Thursday Morning Kids Concert –
Yosi Meets Eugene
June 2, 10:30-11:30 a.m., City Hall Concert
Pavilion
Children’s recording artist Yosi and puppeteer/actor Johnny Beirne share songs, stories and humor to bring kids closer to understanding that being different is fantastic.
www.gaithersburgmd.gov
Gaithersburg Chorus Spring Concert
May 21 & 28, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Main Street
Pavilion
Products for sale include a variety of fruits
and vegetables, herbs, jams and jellies, baked
goods, meat, eggs, honey, cut flowers, potted
plants and dog treats. Arts and crafts vendors
now in its 28th year of performing. Free.
www.gaithersburgmd.gov
Compiled by Sally Alt
at Potomac House
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JT INTERIORS AT POTOMAC HOUSE
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10-6 PM, Sunday 11-5 PM
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301.299.0487
Page 8
The Town Courier
www.UrbanaRidingClub.com
301 874-2000
Busing from
Gaithersburg and
Germantown
*Summer Kids Club*
Riding, Swimming, Hiking,
Crafts, Climbing Walls, Ziplines
& Sports.
May 20, 2016
The Town Courier
May 20, 2016 Page 9
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Page 10
The Town Courier
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from page 1
ticipation is subdued by anxiety. Renovation
work at the former Star Diner building is ongoing, despite the planned April 1 completion
date. And the end of this process, like the beginning when they were surprised to learn of
landlord renovations plans via a City of Gaithersburg Planning Commission meeting notice
affixed to the side of their building, has been
fraught with miscommunication, back-andforth negotiations, and delay, the Bhatnagars
said.
April 19, Beatty Management contacted
the Bhatnagars with the good news that their
space was ready for possession. But when the
Bhatnagars looked at the space, they found
numerous issues and it was not broom-clean,
per their Letter of Agreement with the landlord. They contacted the City of Gaithersburg
to see if permits and inspections were in order.
Initially, no permits could be found for
their space. A city inspector came out to do an
electrical inspection on April 20 and did not
approve the space. The inspector noted that
all outlets needed to be ground fault circuit
interrupter (GFCI), brick and tile work was
not complete, awnings were not installed and
exterior walls were not weather tight. The
Bhatnagars took this list further, asking Beatty
for the promised exterior lights and additional
outlet for their ice cream freezer and outdoor
music. The space now has “one whole line of
plugs,” explained Jyoti Bhatnagar, “and we
may blow a circuit.”
Beatty was working to address these issues
when torrential downpours on May 2 resulted
in water inside the space on floors and countertops. Beatty acted the next day to fix the
storefront metal and caulking, making it water
tight.
City of Gaithersburg Planning Division
Chief Martin Matsen explained that permits
had been issued for all work, but they were
issued for the entire 705 Center Point Way
building and not the individual spaces. In cases
where construction is ongoing but individual
spaces are ready for occupancy, he explained,
city inspectors typically work with the builders and contractors to ensure that all building
code, electrical and fire safety requirements
are met and also that the public is safe from
any construction hazards. A final inspection
is not done until all building renovation work
is complete. At this time, a certificate of occupancy is issued.
Some work is within the city’s purview, he
noted, and other matters are per landlord-tenant agreement. The city concerns itself with
public safety matters and ensuring that approved renovation plans are carried out in full.
The Jan 21, 2016 Letter of Agreement
signed by Jyoti Bhatnagar prior to the start
of renovation of the Peppers Taco Bar space
itemizes further requirements that have not
been met, explained Mike Bhatnagar. Per
the agreement, a temporary partitioning wall
was erected inside to protect Peppers’ equipment during renovation. This was to be taken
down only when construction was complete,
finalized and inspected, and the area was to
be delivered broom-clean. On April 19, this
wall was taken down ahead of the landlord’s
planned tenant possession date. Since renovation was not complete, Peppers’ equipment
has been accumulating dirt and dust.
Also per the agreement, the landlord agreed
to “install an awning or awnings … of its own
choosing at its sole option and expense.” The
May 20, 2016
Bhatnagars’ understanding, based on conversations and design drawings shared at the Oct.
7, 2015 City of Gaithersburg Planning Commission meeting, was that awnings would be
installed by the landlord of a color and design
of the landlord’s choosing. When the issue was
raised with Beatty, the Bhatnagars shared that
Ed Peters, the company’s new director of construction/property operations, said that the
Letter of Agreement gave the landlord the option of installing awnings but did not require
Beatty to do so. In addition, Matsen said that
the final plans approved by the city did not
include awnings over Peppers’ space, so this
would not be within the purview of the city.
Other issues include an electrical heater that
was removed and not reinstalled, a wall repainted a different color, and an alarm system
and phone line broken during construction.
The Bhatnagars want to take possession of
the space and reopen Peppers soon, but they
can’t do so with outstanding issues, they said.
In addition to renovation concerns, the tenant estoppel they have been asked to sign for
the prospective purchaser of Kentlands Market Square, Kimco Realty, incorrectly reflects
their lease agreement; repeated attempts to
have this corrected have been ignored.
Mike Bhatnagar estimated that they have
lost $9,000 since January. Per their Letter of
Agreement, Beatty abated rent for the months
of February, March and April, and agreed to
pay $150 per each day that construction remains unfinished after March 31, 2016. As of
May 16, the Bhatnagars had not received this
payment.
Attempts to reach Beatty Management
were not successful.
The Town Courier
May 20, 2016 Page 11
shoptalk
from page 6
Meekly Yours cards, prints and bookmarks,
the Karen Henzey Studio and Wide Eye Images photography. Featured were lots of great
gift ideas for Mother’s Day.
The city is looking for solo or duo music
acts to perform at the Main Street Market
every Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Interested performers are invited to send a link or
sample of their work and their availability to
[email protected].
B-day Buckets Debut
Tipo’s Toy Box, 724 Center Point Way,
has a new service, sure to make shopping for
birthday presents a more enjoyable experience. Here’s how it works: Prior to the party,
the birthday boy or girl fills a bucket with
wishes, and guests come to Tipo’s and select
a gift to purchase. tipostoybox.com
Local Businesses Sponsor GGCC
Wine Tasting
Paragon Offers Sensory
Friendly Screenings
The April sensory friendly screening of
“The Jungle Book” was so successful that
Paragon has decided to offer one low sound
and lights on screening a month for children with autism or other special needs and
their families. This month’s sensory friendly
screening of “The Angry Birds Movie” at
Paragon Kentlands Stadium 10 is planned
for Saturday, May 21 at 10 a.m. www.paragontheaters.com
Fleet Feet Gets Hoppy
The Fleet Feet Sneakers & Suds Summer Pub Run & Walk is just a couple of
weeks away on Thursday, June 2, 6:30 p.m.
Celebrate summer with a fun run/walk
through Kentlands, enjoying beer samplers along the way. Afterwards you can really get hoppy at a party with event sponsors Under Armour and Yelp at Coal Fire.
www.fleetfeetgaithersburg.com
Fine wine, good food, and more than
100 area business leaders are sure to make
the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber
of Commerce (GGCC) 13th Annual Wine
Tasting another night to remember.
Planned for Thursday, May 19,
5:30-7:30 p.m. at Kentlands Mansion, the
event features a guided wine tasting tutorial
of six featured wines compliments of Pinky
and Pepe’s Grape Escape. The wine will be
paired with food from Savory Gourmet Catering & Events, Not Your Average Joe’s,
Nalley Fresh and Asia Nine. Bundtinis
from Nothing Bundt Cakes and fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate compliments of
the Melting Pot Gaithersburg will also be
served.
Event sponsors include local businesses Pinky and Pepe’s Grape Escape, Nalley
Fresh, Not Your Average Joe’s, Nothing
Bundt Cakes, and Nalley Fresh.
Tipo’s Shakes It Up
■ fundraiser
norm so you learn how to deal with that and
try to make life seamless. … You try not to
make it affect him every day. … He knows
everything that goes on with him, but it’s
definitely pins and needles because you just
never know what’s going to happen. … It’s
tough.”
For more information, visit giving.
tsa l l iance.org/site/TR?team _
i d = 5 0 39 & p g = t e a m & f r _ i d = 1310 & s _
tafId=3152.
from page 6
… so I worry about that all the time.” She
added that something that is maintained now
such as epilepsy “could change tomorrow. …
It’s such an unknown that you never know
what’s going to happen the next day.”
She said that a new detection or a “new
something” is “like a knockdown, it could
be anything … and it becomes your new
Don’t miss seeing kids’ rock music duo
Milkshake perform at Tipo’s Toy Box, 724
Center Point Way, June 4 at 10:30 a.m. The
event is free. tipostoybox.com
Two Left Feet Partners with Arts on
the Green
Looking for a fun and memorable family activity, complete with photos that
you can treasure for years to come? Mark
your calendar for the “Happy Feet Family Dance” on Sunday, June 5 from 2 to
3:30 pm. at Kentlands Mansion and come
to dance the afternoon away. Local Two
Left Feet dance studio instructors lead the
way. Heartwing Photography will be providing professional photos of the event. To
reserve tickets, call 301.258.6425 or email
[email protected].
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Spring SpecialS!
Page 12
The Town Courier
The ParkPages
News and Current Events for Quince Orchard Park
n
TMGA also will be sending a photo with
each violation notification issued to homeowners.
Development Committee
Chair Appointed
Daniel Lowery, new Board secretary,
volunteered to act as Development Committee chair at the Board meeting on
May 10. The Development Committee stays abreast of current transportation
and development projects in the city. The
chair liaises with the City of Gaithersburg, neighboring properties and businesses about development projects, including transportation, and reports back to
the Board on how these might affect the
Quince Orchard Park community. Lowery, who moved to Quince Orchard Park
in October 2015, has lived in Gaithersburg
most of his life and has worked for Barrons
Lumber in Gaithersburg for 12 years.
Photo | Mac Kennedy
At the Diamond Farm Stingrays May 11 kickoff, Eileen Heaps, team representative, and Candy Van Nevel, Stingrays Board
president, speak to QOP resident Joe Baik, whose two children just joined the team. Assistant Coach Nick Van Nevel
is seated.
Diamond Farm Stingrays
Hold Kickoff
whose accounts have been flagged will not
be admitted to the pool.
At least 22 QOP families will be part
of the Diamond Farm Stingrays this year,
said Eileen Heaps, QOP resident and swim
team representative. The team held its
kickoff and registration at the QOP Clubhouse May 11.
The Stingrays will not be using the QOP
pool this year for practices. The team does
not have the manpower to do so, explained
Heaps, but the Stingrays will hold their
annual Swim-a-Thon, which raises money
for the team, on June 26 at the QOP pool.
Landscaping, Tree Pruning Projects
Get Green Light
The pool house has gotten a makeover!
Come see improvements that include nomold Palmalite flooring, new paint and
new bathroom partitions on opening day,
May 28. “I think the community will be
pleasantly surprised,” said Andrea Phipps,
Board vice president.
Please make sure that your account is up
to date, and that you have provided The
Management Group Associates (TMGA)
with necessary pool pass information like
emergency contacts, birth dates and photos.
The Board has acted to offer a grace period for residents with outstanding account
balances and missing pool pass information
this swim season. From pool opening until the closing of schools for the summer,
residents with account issues will be admitted to the pool and given a reminder
postcard with TMGA contact information.
Residents have until June 20 to contact
TMGA and pay past fees or supply missing information. After this date, residents
Meeting Calendar
May 23 — Condo 1 Meeting, 7 p.m.
May 23 — Mayor and City Council On-Site Work Session,
Quince Orchard Park Community Center, 7:30 p.m.
May 25 — Condo 2 Meeting, 7:30 p.m.
E-mail your contributions to [email protected]
QOP NEWS
Pool Opens May 28 With
Grace Period
May 20, 2016
A proposal from Potomac Garden Center (PGC) for spring improvements and tree
maintenance was approved by the Board
May 10, with the exception of landscaping
around the Mill Green Avenue fountain.
Assistant community manager Alex Deering is working with the city to convert the
fountain into a landscaped area or repair
the fountain.
“One of our largest future expenses is
tree pruning,” said Troy Kennedy, Board
president. Two years ago, QOP devised a
five-year plan for maintenance of the community’s maturing trees. This plan should
be completed early in year three, as the
Board voted to accelerate pruning for a
substantial cost savings.
Other landscaping projects include the
Great Seneca Highway entrance, adding
ground cover to Tannery Drive, and repairing the slope next to the Phase 1 tennis
courts.
Fountain Repairs Planned for Pond
Specialty Pools will repair the floating fountain in the pond on Winter Walk
Drive. Normal wear and tear damaged the
power supply. This aerator keeps the pond
healthy for QOP’s many frogs and turtles.
Annual Inspections Begin Soon
This year, annual inspections will begin
in June to give The Management Group
Associates (TMGA) more time to photograph and create a visual record of the paint
colors and architectural features of each
home in the community. Going forward,
ACC Gains Member
The Board appointed 13-year QOP
resident Eileen Heaps to the Architectural
Control Committee (ACC) on May 10.
ACC now has five members.
Mayor and City Meet at Clubhouse
May 23
The Mayor and City Council will
meet at the QOP Clubhouse on Monday,
May 23, 7:30 p.m. to discuss the potential
installation of up to 29 cut-out parking
spaces along Orchard Ridge Drive.
Teen Writers Participate in GBF
QOP resident and professional writer
Lucinda Marshall is co-facilitating a Creative Writing for Teens Workshop at the
Gaithersburg Book Festival (GBF), Writer’s Center Tent on May 21, 4 to 5:30 p.m.
“The workshop is free and open to all
teens,” said Marshall, “and a great chance
to find out more about the ongoing Maryland Writers’ Association’s teen writing
clubs and the experience of being a writer.” At the workshop, teens will use participatory writing prompts and learn about
workshopping techniques.
Also at the festival, club members will
introduce authors David Lubar, KristenPaige Madonia, Monica Hess, Meg Viviott
and Deborah Wiles, and QOP teen Yamini
Manikoth will read her poetry at the GBF
Coffeehouse, 10:30 a.m.
Marshall and Peggy Ruppel co-mentor the Gaithersburg Teen Writing Club,
which this year received the Montgomery
County Public Library Gilchrist Award for
best volunteer program. The Gaithersburg
Teen Writing Club meets on the first and
third Wednesday of every month (except
Aug. 17 and Sept. 7) from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at
the Gaithersburg Library. For more information, visit gaithersburgteenwritingclub.
wordpress.com. It is free to join and the
club welcomes new members.
n
May 2016
MANAGEMENT MENTIONS
Trash and Recycling
Trash is collected on Tuesday and
Friday and must be placed in lidded
trash cans. If left for collection in bags
only, trash is ripped open by animals
and strewn throughout the community. Continued use of bags may result
in fines.
Recycling is picked up on Fridays.
Containers with lids are now available
from the City of Gaithersburg. Please
contact the city at 301.258.6370 to
have a lidded bin delivered and the old
one picked up. Bulk recycling pickups are usually the first Friday of each
month. This month, the bulk recycling pickup will be Friday, June 3.
Trash cans and recycle bins must
be stored out of sight on non-pickup
days.
The City of Gaithersburg and Potomac Disposal (301.294.9700) both
offer collection services for bulk items
at no cost.
Dog Duty
Cleaning up after dogs is the legal
responsibility of every canine owner
walking a dog in the community.
Dogs are not permitted off-leash on
common property in the City of
Gaithersburg.
Website
Agendas 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
Information
Quince Orchard Park Community
Manager Ruchita Patel
QOP Assistant Community Manager
Alex Deering
c/o The Management Group
Associates, Inc.
20440 Century Boulevard, Suite 100
Germantown, MD 20874
Phone: 301.948.6666
Please Respect Private
Property When Playing Ball
Spring beckons children outdoors,
and Quince Orchard Park tot lots and
common areas are great places to play
ball. Some of these spaces, like the tot
lot on Summer Walk Drive, are very
close to residences and balls sometimes
go in unintended directions, hitting
homes and damaging window screens.
Please ask your children not to play
ball close to private property when
they are having fun outdoors.
The Town Courier
May 20, 2016 Page 13
MIKEAT THE MOVIES
Money Monster (R) *****
Jodie Foster, director,
knows how to drive a movie. This one has so many
possibilities of going off the
road, crashing and burning
that it is stunning to realize
it never does while keeping
the same breakneck pace
By Mike
throughout. Even the occasional gag doesn’t stop the
Cuthbert
momentum.
George Clooney stars as financial expert and
shallow showman Lee Gates. His broadcasts
are filled with gimmicks, girls and clever but
not always accurate ways of analyzing stock
trends. One of them goes wrong, and Kyle
Budwell (Jack O’Connell) comes in bearing
an explosive vest and a pistol, demanding to
know what happened to his $60,000 investment in Ibis. A lot of folks wonder since Ibis
stock dropped almost to the bottom in one
afternoon. Kyle blames Gates since he recommended the stock in one of his shtick openings
that marks every show.
Kyle puts the explosive vest on Gates, and
Julia Roberts, as FNN Director Patty Fenn,
quickly empties the studio of non-essential
personnel, leaving only a couple of techs and
a cameraman, Lenny (Lenny Venito). Asked
later why he stayed with Gates, Lenny says
that’s his job. He doesn’t leave until the director tells him to. When Gates asks what he did
to deserve such loyalty, Lenny responds, “Not
much.” Gates, you see, is rich, arrogant, rude,
cold
an altogether
hateful prima
donna
Townand
Courier
Half Page Ad_Layout
1 5/13/2016
who brags that he has not had dinner alone
(without a female partner) for decades. One
can see why.
By accident, the PR officer for Ibis, Diane
Lester (Irish model Caitriona Balfe), shows up
for her absent boss, Walt Camby (Dominic
West) who, we correctly suspect from the getgo, is somehow at the bottom of the money
problem. Camby blames it on a computer
glitch, but we soon learn that the algorithms
constructed by a Korean programmer guard
against such a glitch. FNN begins a global
search for Camby while Lester, as suspected
more than just an officer of his company,
smells a rat and in her way joins the effort to
unveil him.
The film targets a lot of people: the financial community, international business, the
media, New York cops, and the public who
treat the possible mass murder as a TV special.
One scene in particular hits at a number of
targets. Making a plea for his life and reason,
Gates says, “We’re human beings, not computers” and pleads for his large audience to
invest in Ibis stock with the eventual aim of
selling winning stocks. Let us say the audience
response is not exactly what he expected.
FNN gets on the track of Camby when the
programmer says the incredible turn in the
stock had to be user error—“Human fingerprints are all over this.” Kyle turns into an urban hero as Gates, still in the vest, marches
him to a confrontation with Camby; New
York citizens turn into jerks, rooting him
on with a phalanx of police escorting him
through Wall Street; and Gates sympathizes with
him 1more and more. The result, of
9:07
AM Page
course, is that New Yorkers turn Kyle into an
urban hero. The suspense mounts with every
step toward the Stock Exchange and the inevitable ending plays out with the trigger-happy
and violence-demanding NYPD, providing a
logical but disgusting ending.
All of this sounds very complex, I know,
but Foster’s tight direction and disciplined
performances by all the players make it as taut
a thriller with compelling characters as you’re
apt to find anywhere. The younger set won’t
be able to follow the plot even if their folks can
tolerate the language. It’s OK—this is a film
that will bear watching when they’re older.
Captain America: Civil War
(PG-13) *****
You will be forgiven by the gods of Holly-
wood if you say “Wow!” several times in this
spectacular film. If the conflicts had been between mortals and the Super Stars of Special
People, they might have been, and usually are,
very dull or at best, ho-hum. When the forces
are the panoply of superheroes minus Batman
and Robin, however, you’ve got something
very special. This is particularly true when
the producers take the time to spin out backgrounds and storylines for almost every one of
the heroes. It’s actually possible to root for one
or the other as they go to battle.
The issue is whether the Avengers are a help
to mankind or a menace. This after several
accidents have resulted in extensive collateral
damage, including the death of the president
n
mike at the movies Continued on page 14
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nora’scorner
Looking for Fried Catfish in Maryland
F
ried catfish was on
the menu of the restaurant where we
were eating lunch. My
Caplan niece’s boyfriend
was excited. He usually
had a hard time finding
it locally. “Down there,”
he assumed we knew he
By Nora
meant south Louisiana,
Caplan
“you can get catfish at any
place to eat.” During lunch I found out that
Jimmy Brigniac had a Cajun father, and for
the first time in my life I met someone who
was descended from the legendary Acadians
of Longfellow’s “Evangeline” story poem. I
was intrigued.
In his soft southern accent, Jimmy told us,
“The way I heard it, the Brigniacs came from
a little town with the same name in southern
France. Years later when descendants visited
there and asked the residents if there were
any Brigniacs still around, the (villagers)
turned their thumbs outward, meaning the
Brigniacs had all gone away. Some of them
went to Canada, like my family. I heard that
two brothers came down to Louisiana with
the Acadians (who had been expelled by the
British in the mid-18th century). They had
a fight, so each brother settled on different
sides of the Mississippi.”
I was surprised to find out later that Jimmy
had actually been born and raised in Maryland. But his siblings and he had spent many
summers in his father’s hometown, which was
between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. He
bonded with his Cajun family and learned to
love hunting and fishing. I wondered what
wildlife he hunted. “Just about anything that
moved,” he said. When I asked him if they
still used pirogues for fishing, I accented the
word on its second syllable. He didn’t reply
for a few seconds and then he nodded, “We
fished in flat-bottom boats and pirogues, too.
(He prounounced them ‘pee/ rogues.’) They
had flat bottoms so you can go up and down
the bayous, which are shallower than a river.
My grandparents only spoke Cajun French
to each other when they didn’t want us to
understand them. They had a little restaurant
on Lake Maurepas. My grandmother was a
really good cook, and they had everything
on the menu besides catfish, including alligator. Uncle Marion could catch alligators.”
He looked wistful. “Oh, I loved hanging out
with my folks, going to each other’s homes,
eating a big Cajun dinner outside on long
picnic tables.”
The following week we returned to the
same restaurant where I had met Jimmy.
This visit he showed me a small twist of aluminum foil. He grinned, “This time, I’m
going to make the catfish taste more like it
does down home.” He unrolled the twist. It
contained a small heaping of Cajun spices.
When his platter of fried catfish arrived, he
sprinkled it all over with the spices and then
took a big bite. “Now that’s more like it,” he
said with appreciation.
Before we finished eating, I had learned
a lot more about his Cajun background.
“Would you like to go back there to live
someday?” I asked him.
Jimmy nodded and said, “Yes. There’s
nothing better than living on the river, taking it easy.”
Later I wished that I’d added, “and you’d
have an endless supply of fried catfish.”
mikeat the movies
from page 13
of an African nation. This causes an international outrage, the formation of the
Sakovian Accords, signed by 117 nations,
putting the Avengers under the control of
the UN rather than themselves. There is
consternation among the group, some favoring allowing the accords to work, others, most notably Captain America (Chris
Evans), preferring to remain in control of
their own assignments. Captain America
is pitted against Tony Stark (Iron Man,
Robert Downey Jr.), and Black Widow
(Scarlett Johansson) reluctantly joins Iron
Man. As more and more superheroes join
the cast, the loyalties get more and more
tangled. A partial list indicates the scope
of the civil war: Falcon (Anthony Mackie),
War Machine (Don Cheadle), Hawkeye
( Jeremy Renner), Vision (Paul Bettany),
the one with the red metal head, Scarlet
Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Antman (Paul
Rudd), and as Avenger newcomer Spiderman (Tom Holland). Emily van Camp is
the niece of Peggy Carter (focus for TV’s
“Agent Carter”) and we meet her eulogizing her late aunt. There are many more in
the cast, but we must leave some time for
mention of the plot.
One of the strengths of this film is its
full storylines. There is even a love-interest
between Captain and Sharon Carter that
is made into a comic moment very subtly.
Most of the comedy centers on the very
young Spiderman. Upon seeing him for
the first time, one of the veteran Avengers
notes, “Everyone’s got a gimmick now.”
The difference is that, as far as the Avengers are concerned, “We are outside the law
now so you’re on your own.” This precedes
the most spectacular of the many mass fight
scenes in which every Avenger and wannabe Avenger gets involved. It boils down
to Captain America and Iron Man but it
most certainly won’t end with them.
At times it seems like the plot is going
to sink into an old-fashioned revenge plot
and it nearly completes its fall, but most
audiences will find the conclusion and the
epilogue, hinting of more films to come, to
be satisfactory. It will be nearly impossible
to keep the 6 and up set from seeing this
film, so just be sure to warn them that it is
a movie and nobody is really killed, though
the body count on film is high. It is a Marvel film, so you can also remind them that
the root of the whole experience is comic
books. The family can sit back, relax and
say, “Wow!” together for this one.
Enjoy more of Mike’s reviews at www.
towncourier.com
The Town Courier
May 20, 2016 Page 15
Sports
QO Co-ed Volleyball Reaches County Final
By Jennifer Beekman
W
hen co-ed volleyball tryouts began
in March, Quince Orchard High
School coach Sarah Watson admitted she questioned whether or not this
Cougars squad would make it to the seasonending Montgomery County Championship—only the top 16 teams advance to the
postseason.
On Tuesday evening Quince Orchard
(13-1) was scheduled to host perennial coed volleyball powerhouse Damascus with
the county title at stake. Results were too
late to be included in this edition of The
Town Courier; the Cougars, who defeated
the Swarmin’ Hornets in an intense five-set
match earlier this season, were seeking their
first county title since 2001.
“(Making the county final) is definitely a
big deal for our program,” Watson said. “I
knew (at the beginning of the season) that I
had two boys, but I didn’t know who would
take the third (male) spot. There were no
other players. Everyone else was brand new
to volleyball. I didn’t know how we would
win games without a third boy.”
Piecing together a co-ed volleyball team
can be a tricky task, said Watson, who also
coaches the Cougar girls’ team in the fall,
because there tends to be a lot of turnover
each season. While the girls typically come
from the varsity team, or are at least somewhat experienced volleyball players looking
to play varsity, the majority of the male players who come to tryouts are “whatever athletes come out. Basketball players, football
Photo | Submitted
An ecstatic QO co-ed volleyball team celebrates a victory over Damascus earlier in the season.
players, whoever we can get to come out.”
The early portion of the season was geared
toward learning the game, Watson said, and
getting everyone on the same page. But the
Cougars were dedicated and worked extremely hard to get themselves in a position
to compete with the rest of the county, both
with physical skill and understanding of the
game.
Perseverance has also propelled Quince
Orchard this spring, Watson said. Eight of
the Cougars’ matches have gone to at least
four sets and they won seven of them—they
are 3-0 in five-set matches.
Much of that has to do with the athletic
mindset prevalent on this team, Watson said.
Sports can be just as much about mental as
physical skill, she added. While not all the
football players are on the floor at all times,
their strong-mindedness and will to dig deep
QO Boys’ Volleyball Enjoyed
Successful Season
By Jennifer Beekman
W
hen Cynthia Hollies took over
the Quince Orchard High School
boys’ volleyball team three years
ago, the previous coach told her it was good
timing, she said, because with few returning players, she would be able to make it
her own team.
Hollies kept a slew of freshmen that year,
and a talented sophomore class. Now juniors and seniors, the cohesion built though
two and three years playing together translated into one of the Cougars’ most successful seasons.
Though Quince Orchard (11-2), which
went undefeated to win the Montgomery
White Division, fell in three sets to traditional power Thomas S. Wootton in the
second round of the Montgomery County
tournament, the Cougars can still reflect on
a statement regular season—they were one
game shy of an undefeated campaign. And,
Hollies said, with several key players set to
return, she’s already excited about the pros-
pects for next year.
The Cougars played in a 6-2 formation and were propelled this spring by the
chemistry between their two setters: senior
Andrew Yuan, a four-year varsity athlete,
and junior Sungmin Joo. “They were very
good about setting all positions, so it was
a nice mix on offense,” Hollies said. “And
they covered so well for each other. If one
had to dig a ball out on defense, the other
took over seamlessly into the setting role.
… Sometimes teams have one or two big
hitters and that’s who they always go to.
(Our setters) did a nice job distributing.”
Quince Orchard did have two big middle hitters to rely on to end points quickly
in 6-foot-4 senior Kyle Jameson and classmate Saul Sallah (6-2). And four-year varsity player Vishnu Balajee, the Cougars’
libero and defensive specialist, was a major
calming factor on the floor, Hollies said.
Three years ago practices typically consisted of Hollies running drills, hitting the
ball at her players and teaching them the
n
qo boys’ volleyball Continued on page 17
has been contagious.
“The demands of QO football are so much
higher than probably any sport in the building. Their sport is so intense and they bring
that football mindset and energy to practice and everyone feeds off it,” Watson said.
“They bring that love for sport and wanting
to win.”
Quince Orchard has been led by senior
Herrick Hartman, an experienced volleyball
player who Watson said does a little bit of
everything for the Cougars. Though somewhat undersized, Hartman is a strong, consistent hitter as well as the team’s top serve
receiver; Watson said he’s the strongest allaround player. Jonah Ho is the team’s top
hitter, and Alex Mao improved rapidly to
step into the third boys’ spot.
A junior varsity player in the fall, sophomore Elizabeth Cooke spent the winter
playing club volleyball. Watson said she has
been a pleasant surprise as a go-to player this
spring.
This season’s run is a big step forward from
last season, during which the Cougars were
about .500 and barely made it inside the top
16. Watson said with this year’s success she
hopes the upward trajectory continues, both
with her girls in the fall and next spring.
“I really think (this season has been a success) because we’ve worked so hard,” Watson said. “Not to say that other teams don’t,
but one of our starters never played volleyball until this season. We’ve had a lot of lose
games, a lot of close matches that went to
five sets, and we pulled out the win. It’s perseverance. It’s working hard in practice. If
you work hard in practice, you’re ready for
matches.”
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The Town Courier
May 20, 2016
NW Softball Season Ends Prematurely, Baseball Fights Hard
By Jennifer Beekman
“I
t’s easier to get to the top than stay
there” is an old adage in sports
and it derives from the change
in dynamic when an athlete or team goes
from being the hunter to the hunted.
As the defending Class 4A state finalist
and No. 1 seed in Section II of the Class 4A
West Region, the Northwest High School
softball team was heavily favored to make
it to at least the regional final, and likely
further—the Jaguars were the only team
to remotely test four-time defending state
champion Sherwood the past two seasons.
That put a big target on the Jaguars’ backs,
which meant every single team in the region has been ready to give Northwest
their best game.
“That’s something we discussed at the
beginning of the season,” Jaguars coach
Mike Horton said. “It’s a lot different being the hunter than the hunted.”
In another stellar season, Northwest,
which made its first state tournament appearance in 2013, went undefeated against
teams not named Sherwood—and the
Jaguars only lost that one, 10-7—shut out
eight opponents and allowed teams to score
more than one run only three times.
But in Monday’s shocking 5-4, Class 4A
West Region Section II semifinal loss to
Thomas S. Wootton in eight innings, a
Northwest team not at full strength faced
a team too good to be faced with anything
less than 100 percent.
With senior four-year starting pitcher
and team leader Bridgette Barbour sidelined after aggravating a hamstring injury
sustained earlier in the season, junior Ellie Smethurst, a former two-year starter at
James H. Blake, took the pitcher’s circle
Monday. The left-handed hurler pitched a
solid game, and the Jaguars (14-2) led 4-1
with two outs in the seventh inning before
Wootton put pressure on Northwest with
a couple of well-placed hits, Horton said.
Barbour, who has been the cornerstone
of Northwest’s rise the past four years,
made an appearance in the eighth inning
but she was hampered by the leg injury.
Horton, however, said it was important to
give Wootton full credit for the comeback
victory in a well-played game by the Patriots.
That said, in addition to her calming
presence for Northwest since a breakout
freshman season, Barbour led the team
offensively this spring with a .618 batting
average. Horton said the game was one he
worried about if the Jaguars’ leader was unable to play at full strength.
Though a disappointing end to a season
during which Horton said he truly believed Northwest could make a run for its
first state title, the Jaguars have a lot to look
forward to next spring. Though Barbour
(115 strikeouts in 67 innings, 1.57 earnedrun average) won’t be back, the majority of
a lineup that batted .414 as a team will be,
including Smethurst (.500 batting average.
0.47 ERA in 17 innings). Horton added
there were two freshman pitchers on the
team this season who will be able to add
depth to the position in 2017.
Junior outfielders Alexa Bowen (.500)
and Alexis Mack (.417), sophomore shortstop Karlie Stanford (.457) and sophomore
second baseman Chloe Hickman (.367) are
all slated to return next season.
“Bridgette, the team really feeds off
her,” Horton said. “(But) I’m excited for
next year. The team chemistry is so good.
These girls get along so well. I feel they really feed off each other.”
Northwest boys fought hard, but the
third-seeded 2012 state champion team
fell, 3-1, to visiting John F. Kennedy Monday afternoon in a game that was resumed
after being rained out Saturday while tied
0-0 in the third inning.
“Kennedy is good,” Jaguars coach Todd
Varesco said. “They’ve been putting together a good program the last three or
four years. Seven or eight years ago, they
were off the map. It’s good for the county;
all the teams are starting to put up good
teams, and it’s great for the county.”
Not so great for Northwest’s (12-7) attempt at another state title this spring, but
with only one senior this season, the Jaguars, who went 10-1 after a 2-4 start to
the season, are in position to be one of the
county’s best teams next year.
Northwest was propelled this spring by
strength down the middle, with junior
pitcher/catcher Mac Adelman (1.94 ERA);
pitchers Justin Violette (team-high 32
strikeouts in 25 innings), Dean Edmundson (30 strikeouts, .364 batting average)
and Griffin Bubb (2.71 ERA); and center
fielder Ryan Kennington (.386, 24 runs
batted in). All are slated to return.
Adelman, Varesco said, is a unique talent. His prowess behind the plate—and
his ability to throw runners out at second
base—forces other teams to step out of their
comfort zones to manufacture runs. And
while Northwest’s coach said he typically
wouldn’t want his catcher to pitch, Adelman is too good to keep off the mound.
“We (had) an opportunity to win a state
championship this year but the fact of the
matter is, we’re only going to get better,”
Photo | Submitted
Team leader Bridgette Barbour was sidelined during
Monday’s Class 4A West Region Section II semifinal game
after aggravating a hamstring injury sustained earlier in
the season.
Varesco said. “I’m hoping we take this into
next year. The kids, they’re young. But
they need to learn from what we’re going
this year and take it to the next level next
year.”
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The Town Courier
May 20, 2016 Page 17
Cougar Baseball Wins Second Round of Playoffs
By Mac Kennedy
F
inishing13-5andearningtheNo.2seedinthe
section,theQuinceOrchardbaseballplayers
foundthemselvesinfamiliarterritory. Overtheyears,
theCougarshaveconsistentlyreachedtheplayoffswitha
high-rankingandimpressiverecord,andthisyearisno
different.
The Wootton Patriots traveled to QO on
May 13 for what turned out to be a thriller. QO was up 2-0 going into the 6th inning
before Wootton batted in three runs. After losing the lead, QO struck back with
two runs of their own in the bottom of the
6th to regain the lead, 4-3. They then held
off a final push in the 7th to advance to
the next round. Senior Jack Ropelewski,
junior Jason Zimmerman, and senior Kyle
Photo | Mac Kennedy
Chieh all did their part on the mound to Pinch runner Tarique McClary slides back to first as the pick off throw gets away from the first basemen during Monday’s
game against Kennedy.
secure the win.
QO was able to gain some serious mo- losing to Walter Johnson 4-3 on May 3, the push in their last three games. They first
mentum before entering the playoffs. After Cougars mounted a strong season-ending beat Rockville, 4-1, then Richard Mont-
QO Softball Earns No. 2 Seed
By Mac Kennedy
T
he best time for a team to get on
a hot streak is in the last stretch of
the season. The Quince Orchard
girls’ softball team did just that in the final month of their regular season. The
Cougars finished their year winning 10
of their last 11 games, earning the No.
2 seed in the section.
The Cougars played the third-ranked
Clarksburg High School Coyotes at
home on Monday, May 16 in the second round of the playoffs. When these
two teams clashed in the regular season, QO came out on top 5-4. Coach
Colleen Adams knew that this would
be another “very tough game” for her
team, and it was just that.
Clarksburg came out firing on offense and continued their impressive
hitting all game. They were able to hit
two home runs during the game. QO
tried to bounce back inning after inning but the Coyotes always seemed to
have an answer. The Cougars struggled
to hit in runners in scoring position and
ended up scoreless. Clarksburg won the
game with a final score of 6-0.
This loss came after QO faced Kennedy High School in the first playoff
round on May 12. Strong offense led
to a 13-1 victory as the Cougars batted a .414 average. Led by seniors Gina
Wingate and Alissa Satterfield and junior Hannah Ropelewski, who all hit
1.000, QO was able to drive in 13 RBIs.
Junior Nicole Beisner was superb on
the mound, pitching four innings and
finishing with four strikeouts. Beisner
and junior Katie Lee, who came on
the mound to finish the game, were a
headache for Kennedy, and the Cavaliers were only able to drive in one run.
Coming into the playoffs, Adams
knew the road would be tough. She
was optimistic for her team’s chances
to go far but was very aware that they
were in “one of the toughest sections
in the state.” Although a No. 2 ranking is a great accomplishment, QO had
high hopes of making a run in the postseason. On the bright side, QO only
graduates three players, leaving an experienced team behind them for next
season.
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■ qo boys’ volleyball
from page 15
basics. This spring, as the Cougars’ skills and
volleyball IQ have progressed, they took on
more responsibilities during practice and on
game days. And it helped them become more
perceptive of opponents’ strengths and weaknesses and how Quince Orchard should approach each game.
While the Cougars were disappointed in
their early postseason exit, Hollies said she’s
gomery, 12-0, and finally Paint Branch,
14-0. Although the Cougars scored 30
runs in three games, Coach Jason Gasaway
still saw room for improvement. “In order
to go far in the playoffs, we need to do a
better job hitting in runners in scoring position,” Gasaway said.
Gasaway was very pleased with his team’s
defense in the final stage of their regular
season. “We have had great starts from our
pitching, and our defense these last couple
games have been very solid.”
The second round of the playoffs took
place at QO on May 16 with QO hosting
Kennedy High School. Senior Nick Wong
and junior Griffin Mann combined for an
impressive outing on the mound, leading
the Cougars to a 12-2 victory. Kennedy
struggled to get hits against Wong who
held them scoreless through four innings
and then Mann finished them off, giving
up only two runs.
hoping the attention this year’s success garnered will help draw out more numbers to
next year’s varsity tryouts as Quince Orchard
will have some spots to fill following the
graduation of six seniors.
“We’d hoped this was our year to go to
finals,” Hollies said. “With no junior varsity
team it helps if you pull in some freshmen.
Every year I try to pick up one or two freshmen and try to make something out of them.
Next year I’ll be looking for a bigger group.”
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Page 18
The Town Courier
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■ track
dominant.
The Jaguars won their second consecutive
Montgomery County Outdoor Championship May 11. Northwest’s 121.90 points fell
just short of the meet’s scoring record; the Jaguars finished 60.9 points ahead of the rest of
the field.
“People look at our No. 1 guys all the time,
but they don’t look to see how close No. 2
or No. 3 is,” Youngblood said. “A guy like
Davino Frazer, he goes under the radar all the
time. And he’s one of the top in the state. But
no one ever sees him.”
Frazer, who’s been integral to several
Northwest relays, finished fourth in both the
100- and 200-meter dashes at counties. Sophomore Khaloni Mganga turned heads when
he won the 400 dash and finished second in
the 200 dash.
“Khaloni wins and they’re like, ‘Who is this
kid?’” Youngblood said.
Northwest’s boys won five events at the
county meet, which is actually one less than
the second-place Jaguar girls. But the boys also
finished two in the top five of four events.
Wright won two individual events: the 110
hurdles, in which he broke a 16-year meet
mark with a time of 13.80 seconds, and the
300 hurdles. The Jaguar boys were also victors
in the 400 and 1,600 relays.
Quince Orchard coach Seann Pelkey said
when a team is as strong as Northwest is,
across all events, most other teams just have to
go into championship meets focusing on what
they can control.
“We knew Northwest on the boys’ side was
going to be scoring a heck of a lot of points.
We knew they’d be going for that scoring re-
■ qo lacrosse
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from page 1
from page 3
Heiney Gonzalez said, “a lot of kids wanting
to step up and do their part. Over the season
the team definitely progressed immensely. A
lot of the younger kids stepped into (prominent) roles and embraced the challenge of
playing high-level lacrosse.”
The Cougars were at their best this season
when they were “running and gunning and
moving the ball around with a lot of energy,”
Heiney Gonzalez said. Though they abided
by their game plan to stay aggressive Monday
against Urbana, they might have played a little too fast even for themselves. Nevertheless,
Quince Orchard continued to work hard as
the team has all season and continued to compete, scoring its final goal with 13 seconds left
in regulation when it was already out of contention.
“I think the boys were so excited to be
there and competing,” Heiney Gonzalez said.
“Unfortunately sometimes you can be too aggressive.”
Quince Orchard will have some holes to
fill: three-year starter Eisley Kim, who has
been a tremendous leader on defense, defensive midfielder J.T. Rommell and Adrian
Culp (eight goals, six assists), among them.
But the Cougars will be in excellent position next year with their top six scorers—Joe
Beville (39, 13), Drew Levine (24, 27), Vic
Greenberg (27, 13), Johnny Hodges (29, 5),
Julian Culp (17, 6) and Fierstein—scheduled
to return.
Quince Orchard girls’ lacrosse overcame
even more challenges to reach the section final. Adversity—for instance, four concussions
May 20, 2016
cord, but outside of that, there were a lot of
other points up for grabs,” Pelkey said. “We
can’t control what they can do, so it’s one of
those situations where it’s the old cliché, ‘Take
care of what we can take care of.’”
The Cougar boys achieved their goal of finishing in the top five; Quince Orchard was
.50 points out of fourth place. Senior Dylan
Bikim won the high jump; Liam Walsh picked
up third-place finishes in the 800 and 1,600
runs; and pole vaulters Christopher Nyborg
and Matthew Owens finished second and
third, respectively.
Northwest’s girls finished in second place,
28.5 points behind Clarksburg. But subtract
a few unexpected stumbles and the Jaguars
would have been in major contention, perhaps
could have won, and the team feels confident
moving forward into the season-ending state
competition scheduled for May 27, Youngblood said.
The Jaguars’ freshman duo of Taylor
Wright and Cori Brown had another big meet.
Wright won three individual events in the 100
and 200 dash and triple jump. Brown won the
400 dash and finished second in the 100 dash,
.10 seconds behind Wright. The team’s lone
senior and invaluable leader, Leondria Correia, won the long jump and finished third in
the 100 hurdles, and junior Stephanie Bateky
prevailed in the high jump and finished fifth
in the long jump.
Quince Orchard’s girls finished 13th but
saw strong performances from Madison
Wellinghoff (third in the high jump), Julia
Sloan (fourth in 200 dash) and Maya Jacobson
(sixth in 3,200 run).
Northwest and Quince Orchard are scheduled to compete in the Class 4A West Region
meet Wednesday, but results were too late to
be included in this edition of The Town Courier.
before spring break—tried to hold an injuryplagued team down this spring. But the Cougars, who at points this season were missing
eight players due to injuries, valiantly never
stopped fighting to find their form. The result
was a run to the Class 4A/3A West Region
Section II final.
Though Quince Orchard ultimately fell
there to two-time region winner Urbana, 109, a team the Cougars lost to by four goals
earlier in the season, Quince Orchard (6-9)
rebounded from four consecutive losses to
close the regular season by stringing together two straight victories for only the second
time this spring to give themselves a chance to
compete for a spot in the region final.
“I think everything came together (in playoffs); we only had one girl injured, which is
totally different than six or seven, so everyone
was feeling more confident,” Cougars coach
Jennifer Mohr said. “All the bumps and the
injuries, we got past that and the best thing
to see was the girls were doing everything
we had been coaching them to do the entire
season, and we didn’t have to remind them.
They were just doing it.”
It was playing as a collective unit, rather than trying to rely on one go-to scorer
that helped Quince Orchard in playoffs,
Mohr added. Five different players—Francesca D’Cruz (four goals), Megan McDanald
(three), Morgan Avissar (two), Skylar Saffer
(one) and Lauren Kelly (one)—scored the
Cougars’ 11 goals in a section semifinal win
over Watkins Mill.
Eight seniors will graduate this spring but
10 juniors are set to return next season, one
that hopefully won’t present so many challenges.
May 20, 2016 The Town Courier
Page 19
Page 20
The Town Courier
May 20, 2016
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