Bowie 102314 by The Gazette

LENDING A HELPING HAND Bowie group works to control feral cat population. A-5

Gazette-Star

NEWS: Colorful Clinton skate park murals leave their mark. A-3

SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNT Y DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Suspect arrested in Bowie robberies

Claggett Elementary may close next school year due to low enrollment n

Teen discovered in Upper Marlboro with gun, stolen items

BY JAMIE ANFENSON-COMEAU

EMILIE SHAUGHNESSY

STAFF WRITER

Bowie police have arrested a teenager in connection with three armed robberies that took place in September. One of the robberies took place on Midwood Lane in Bowie on Sept. 30, shortly before a Bowie High School father was shot and killed near the same location in an unrelated event, police said. The other two incidents took place on Evergreen Parkway and Laurel Bowie Road. Bowie police officers and Maryland state police SWAT team members arrested Marques Davone Clark, 18, of Needlewood Lane in Bowie around noon on Friday, according to a Bowie police report. Clark was arrested at a Fort Washington address, where police also discovered a handgun and property belonging to several of the robbery victims, according to police. “Hopefully this arrest will provide closure for both the victims and the community,” said Bowie police chief John Nesky in a press release. Clark was questioned at the Bowie criminal investigation division office then taken to the Upper Marlboro department of corrections for charging, according to police. He was charged with six counts, including armed robbery and ﬁrst-degree assault, and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Nov. 13, according to court records. No attorney information was available in online court records. “This was excellent police work,” Bowie Mayor G. Frederick Robinson said in a statement. eshaughnessy@gazette.net

KIRSTEN PETERSEN/THE GAZETTE

Cub Scout James Weber, 9, of Joint Base Andrews, chats Saturday about his favorite football team over amateur radio with help from Kenny Courtney, 74, of Clinton during the Jamboree-on-the-Air, an international amateur radio event for Boy Scouts.

Cheltenham Scouts on the air BY

KIRSTEN PETERSEN STAFF WRITER

adewryn Fletcher, 11, a Boy Scout from Upper Marlboro said he was nervous to step up to the mic Saturday night and talk to a stranger over amateur radio. But with encouragement from his mother and brother, Cadewryn sat at a picnic table with amateur radio operator Kenneth Greenhouse,

68, of Upper Marlboro and chatted about his favorite color with a Boy Scout in Saskatchewan, Canada. “I think it’s awesome,” said Cadewryn’s mother, Renea Fletcher, 47, “I guess for so many years you tell them, ‘Don’t talk to strangers,’ and now it’s time to talk to strangers.” Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts from Prince

See SCOUTS, Page A-7

Town hopes to have better results with outside contractor

KIRSTEN PETERSEN STAFF WRITER

Barry Morton said his neighbors in Marlborough Towne don’t have trouble recycling — the challenge is ﬁlling up and taking out their 64-gallon, Prince George’s County-issued bins ev-

INDEX Automotive Calendar Classiﬁed Entertainment Opinion Sports

Ofﬁcials say new vehicles will help save money and the environment BY

EMILIE SHAUGHNESSY STAFF WRITER

Bowie staff and law enforcement ofﬁcers are taking the city’s push for environmental responsibility to the streets. The Bowie police department is the

first in the state to purchase electric motorcycles for its patrol officers, said Bowie assistant police chief Dwayne Preston, which he said was confirmed by the bike vendor. The two bikes, which will be used to patrol the city’s parks and trails as well as to answer calls for service, were unveiled at an Oct. 21 press event in Bowie. “One of the things [the department] wanted to look at was how can we be green, how can we save fuel, how can we make less of an environmental impact,”

Nesky said. “[The motorcycles are] going to help us cover both trails and the patrol streets. With use of the electric motorcycles, we don’t have to sacriﬁce one for the other.” The e-bike unveiling took place about one week after Bowie council members agreed to purchase a 2015 electric car from a Bowie car dealership for transporting city employees. The car cost approximately $30,000, according to a memo from city manager David Deutsch.

ery week. “It appears to a lot of people that we are not recycling in the neighborhood, but it is a hassle to drag [the bin] around the neighborhood for a couple boxes of cornflakes,” Morton said. Cumbersome recycling bins is one problem Steve Sonnett, the president of the Upper Marlboro town commissioners, hopes to eliminate with the town’s new recycling con-

tractor, Bates Trucking & Trash Removal, Inc, a Bladensburgbased waste management company. “It was a good move and we got a good bid from Bates,” Sonnett said. Sonnett said the town discontinued service through the county to improve the rate and quality of recycling. The deal could save the town up to $7,000 annually, Sonnett said. “It lowers the cost and it

A RIDE IN THE COUNTRY Cyclists to check out the green scene on county bike tour.

A-4

1932791

gives us a direct relationship with the contractor so we can monitor performance better,” Sonnett said. Linda Lowe, a spokeswoman for the county’s Department of Environment, wrote in an email that the department is happy the town is continuing residential curbside collections and it would continue to help the town promote recycling.

See RECYCLING, Page A-7

NEWS B-7 A-2 B-6 B-3 A-9 B-1

Prince George’s County Public Schools is planning to close one under-enrolled elementary school next year, and is considering converting another into a center for preschool students. The Maryland State Department of Education requested the school system come up with an action plan for Thomas Claggett Elementary School in District Heights due to declining enrollment and lagging performance, said Johndel Jones-Brown, director of pupil accounting and boundaries at a Tuesday meeting at the school. Claggett is currently enrolled at 236, which is 51 percent of its State Rated Capacity, or SRC, which is the number of students the school can hold without impacting learning. Its scores on the 2013 Maryland State Assessment, or MSA, are some of the lowest in the county, with only 35 percent

of students scoring proﬁcient or better in math and 55.1 percent scoring proﬁcient or better in reading. “The option we’ve chosen in regards to that school is to discontinue its use as an elementary school,” Jones-Brown said. Approximately two-thirds of the students currently zoned for Claggett would attend John Bayne Elementary School in Walker Mill. The remaining third would attend District Heights Elementary. John Bayne Elementary is 1.5 miles from Claggett; District Heights Elementary is slightly under one mile. Jones-Brown said both schools could absorb the additional students and still remain under capacity. “I’m very happy about this change,” said Lauren Taylor of District Heights, whose daughter attends the second grade at Claggett. She said she is looking forward to her daughter attending District Heights, which is closer to her home. Sha-Neeka Gordon of Capitol Heights, mother of a second grade student at Claggett said she wished Claggett would stay open, and she is con-

See SCHOOL, Page A-7

Electric car, motorcycles hit the road in Bowie

Upper Marlboro bags county recycling n

25 cents

District Heights school slated to be shuttered

Tuned in

SPORTS: Point guard discovers his passion for leading PGCC basketball. B-1

RECYCLE

Bowie Mayor G. Frederick Robinson said the three environmentally-friendly vehicles are part of Bowie’s push to support “green” initiatives. “It all ﬁts into the attempt to balance what we have to do with the most [environmentally-friendly] and cost-efﬁcient way to do it,” Robinson said. “It will give us the opportunity to save fuel and set a change of mindset.”

See MOTORCYCLES, Page A-6 Wanda Leonard, an Upper Marlboro resident, checks her recycling, which does not ﬁll half of the 64-gallon container. She said the town’s new recycling contractor should give residents the option of using a larger or smaller bin. KIRSTEN PETERSEN/ THE GAZETTE