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Versatile Miami String Quartet shakes it up at Clarice Smith. B-5
Gazette-Star SERVING SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY COMMUNITIES
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Thursday, October 3, 2013
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Residents feel sting of shutdown About 72,000 in county are federal government employees n
BY SOPHIE PETIT STAFF WRITER
PRINCE GEORGE’S
Stephanie Lopez of Brentwood and friend William Villatoro of Lanham let Lopez’s dog, Harley, play at the Heurich Dog Park in Hyattsville.
GETS A
leg up
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
PET SAFETY:
It’s not always a walk in the park
PARKS
ON DOG
Owners often left to police dog disputes n
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County seeing ‘tremendous growth’ in interest for play areas for pets
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BY SOPHIE PETIT STAFF WRITER
BY
DOG PARK CHECKLIST
See SAFETY, Page A-8
n MAP: Wondering where to find dog parks in Prince George’s? A look at amenities for people and pooches. Page A-8 n QUIZ: Is your pup ready for the park? Page A-8
BY SOPHIE PETIT STAFF WRITER
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Hoops, with paw print designs, are available in the Heurich Dog Park in Hyattsville along with tunnels and other activities for dogs.
Dog owners are recommended to bring the following items with them when they take their pets to dog parks:
n Dog license n Rabies vaccination paperwork n Bordetella, distemper and parvovirus immunization paperwork (optional)
INSIDE
Bowie trail on track for 2015 City is prepared to cover costs of hiker-biker path but hopes for help
STAFF WRITER
See PARKS, Page A-8
See SHUTDOWN, Page A-9
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SOPHIE PETIT
gor Kobyzeb, 27, of Lanham takes his 1-year-old dog, Rocko, to the Greenbelt Dog Park about three times per week — but he says the park is much more than just a place for pets in need of a walk. “It’s a way for strangers to hang out together, and dogs to socialize and become more well-behaved,” said Kobyzeb, one of a growing number of Prince George’s residents enjoying the six dog parks in the county, all built within the past decade. Officials said Prince George’s is seeing “tremendous growth” in community interest in dog parks, so much so that the county plans to build a 5,000-square-foot, countyrun dog park for every 120,000 residents over
Keeping the peace at dog parks often rests with pet owners, a fact that can be easily overlooked by visitors who see the trip as time off while dogs are fenced in. “People at the park are usually smart enough to keep their dogs away and gauge their temperaments,” said Krysta Lemm, 24, of Bowie, who visits Bowie’s dog park weekly with her 8-year-old golden retriever, Astro. Dog parks are safe places to let dogs off the leash, but if owners aren’t careful about keeping an eye on their pets and following park rules, they can become unpleasant places, park officials and dog experts said. The most common problems at dog parks is aggression between
Prince George’s County businesses and residents say they are feeling the brunt of the federal government shutdown, as about 16 percent of the county’s workforce — about 72,000 residents — are federal employees. “As long as this shutdown continues, it’s going to adversely affect our business community,” said Andre Rogers, chairman of the Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce. The shutdown began Tuesday after the Republican-majority U.S. House of Representatives and the Democrat-majority U.S. Senate failed to agree on any spending bills for fiscal 2014. Federal agencies have closed and sent most workers, besides military personnel, home indefinitely without pay. Fourteen federal agencies have offices in Prince George’s, according to a Maryland State Archives website. “This region is particularly vulnerable because it’s so close to the nation’s capital. We
n Collar or harness with appropriate tags attached (dog’s name, owner’s name, owner’s contact information, rabies vaccination, license) n Leash
n Water bowl and water n Ball n Waste bag and scooper n Local animal control phone number n Veterinarian’s phone number
SOURCES: COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT RESOURCES ANIMAL MANAGEMENT DIVISION WEBSITE; SHARON KONDASH, DOG TRAINER AND BEHAVIOR THERAPIST; CITY OF LAUREL ANIMAL CONTROL’S DOG PARK RULES AND ETIQUETTE BROCHURE.
Walking or biking from Old Town Bowie to Bowie State University is expected to get a bit easier in two years, as city officials said they are ready to start building a longawaited trail that will connect the two areas. The trail segment will be part of the roughly 3.5-mile proposed Bowie Heritage Trail, which would start at a Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis Trail intersection off Race Track Road in the city and run north, ending at Bowie State University and the MARC train station. City officials have been planning the trail since 2005, said Joe Meinert, director of the city’s planning department. The section running from Old Town Bowie, around Chestnut Avenue, to Bowie State University, running along parts of Laurel Bowie Road and through Jericho Park, will be a quarter-mile-long asphalt segment up to 10 feet wide, according to a city report. “We’re ready to move ahead with the city paying 100 percent of the costs. What we’re trying to do now is offset the costs,” Meinert said. The segment, the trail’s first two-tenths of a mile, will cost nearly $300,000, he said. Construction is set to begin and end in 2015. Construction plans for the Bowie Heritage Trail’s three remaining segments are still in the works, Meinert said.
See TRAIL, Page A-7
SPORTS
EYES ON THE PRIZE After attending Pallotti and Laurel, running back excels at Riverdale Baptist.
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