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SILVER ANNIVERSARY Theater marks 75th with free showing of first movie. A-13
The Gazette BETHESDA | CHEVY CHASE | KENSINGTON
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Wednesday, September 11, 2013
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Purple Line: More noise, fewer trees Final environmental impact study outlines transit project’s noise, land issues n
BY AGNES BLUM STAFF WRITER
The Purple Line will bring with it the hum of power substations, the squealing of wheels and the ringing of warning bells according to the final environmental impact study released Thursday. The study, conducted by the Maryland Transit Administration, is available onIN THE line at www.purplelinemd. PATH OF THE com/en/studies-reports/ feis-document and goes into great detail about the effects of construction of the $2.2 billion light-rail line. The train will travel 16.2 miles east-west across Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and is slated to begin in 2015. Those who live alongside the tracks can expect in-
PurpleLine
See STUDY, Page A-8
Richard Willis, who is currently homeless, panhandles at the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Democracy Boulevard in Bethesda on Monday.
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
DISCOURAGED
DONATIONS
County tries to curb panhandling; instead, campaign seeks to increase aid to groups that help the poor n
BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
Richard Willis strolled up and down the thin median strip in Bethesda, following the ebb and flow of traffic as the lights changed. Monday was one of the first days Willis had come to the intersection of Democracy Boulevard and Old Georgetown Road in months, but
he said he’s been coming to the area off and on for nearly 10 years. His small cardboard sign said he needed money for prescriptions, but Willis said he was actually trying to raise money to stay at a motel because there was no room in the homeless shelter where he had been staying. Drivers’ reaction to his presence is mostly good, although occasionally someone will tell him to get a job, Willis said. He said sometimes people will bring him a soda or a sandwich. Other times, a driver will say they are on their way to the grocery store across the street, and they’ll bring him something on the way back. In the winter, people
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
will bring gloves, hats or an umbrella if it’s raining, he said. Earlier Monday morning in Wheaton, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), County Councilman George Leventhal and other officials announced an initiative to discourage drivers and other county residents from giving money to panhandlers such as Willis and instead direct their money toward county programs that work with the poor and homeless. “We want people to give. We don’t want people to give to panhandlers,” Leventhal said
See DONATIONS, Page A-11
Tall mature trees will be lost during construction of the Purple Line, which will run behind the home of Maribeth and Lee Eiden, shown in their Bethesda backyard with their grandchild Richie.
School system examines policy on moving teachers Reassignment after accusations of sexual behavior could be rare
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Church works to create hunger-free ZIP code New food-delivery service now available to needy in the area n
BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
If you live within the 20895 ZIP code, you will not go hungry. That’s according to St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Kensington, a congregation with a plan to make the Kensington’s 20895 ZIP code the first hunger-free ZIP code in the nation. “There seemed to be a gap in Kensington:
NEWS
WSSC ADMITS ‘MISTAKE’
Utility company takes responsibility for water main break in March.
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the southern part is very affluent but once you go north of the church, your eyes are opened, there are pockets of poverty,” said Brian Ruberry, a member of St. Paul’s who has been a part of the church’s hunger ministry since it began in 2010. For the “20895 — Hunger Free Zone” project the church has partnered with Bethesda Help, a food pantry located in Bethesda, in order to reach out to people in its community. “The food is already at the Bethesda Help pantry; when [they] get a call from someone in our ZIP code our drivers will pick up the food a deliver it,” Ruberry said. The goal is to get food to the hungry within 24 hours of getting
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
a request. In order to let people know about the new program, which officially began Tuesday, the church sent postcards written in both English and Spanish to schools, government offices and social services to let them know how to access the food delivery. They also distributed lawn signs for residents and businesses to display declaring their homes and workplaces hunger-free zones. “We need to raise awareness so people will call; for people who are hungry this is gold,” pastor Adam Snell said.
When a teacher has been accused of inappropriate behavior with a student, that teacher could wind up in a new school. The latest education news in Montgomery and affecting Montgomery County County Public Schools is considering new rules that would make such reassignments less likely in cases of “a sexual nature,” said chief operating officer Larry Bowers. The school system is examining its policy for reas-
See CHURCH, Page A-8
See SCHOOL, Page A-11
SPORTS
A DIFFERENT TYPE OF PRESSURE Tennis players face a unique type of pressure when wearing their school’s colors.
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