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Gazette-Star SERVING SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY COMMUNITIES
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Thursday, May 8, 2014
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Bowie gets closer to approving new city call center n
Police: New number could help speed response to non-life-threatening calls BY CHASE COOK STAFF WRITER
Morning, noon or midnight, residents could soon have more access to Bowie’s Police Department 24 hours a day as city officials showed support to pay for a new call center that could decrease response times to non-lifethreatening calls.
Making the grade
Bowie developer requested rezoning from shopping center to allow residential housing n
Suitland educator named Teacher of the Year
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ALICE POPOVICI STAFF WRITER
aura Shelton’s classroom at Benjamin D. Foulois Creative and Performing Arts Academy in Suitland is filled with colorful signs and science projects, but the Prince George’s County Teacher of the Year said she found her calling in a very different place — Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Va. “I saw some young men who were never going home,” said Shelton, 45, of Suitland of the nearly seven years she spent working as a correctional officer for the Virginia Department of Corrections. “It was a life-changing
See CALL CENTER, Page A-7
Amber Ridge plans fuel traffic concerns
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Laura Shelton (center), works May 7 with students Alanna Henderson (left), 14, and Jordan Coleman, 13. Shelton, a science teacher at Benjamin D. Foulois Creative and Performing Arts Academy in Suitland, was named Teacher of the Year for Prince George’s County.
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“I think they see that we are on a good path to improve services and plug some needed holes,” Bowie police chief John Nesky said. “It is just a matter of providing better service on our end.” City Council members showed support for the call center during Tuesday’s budget work session. The center, which could cost about $500,000 a year to run, would directly connect Bowie residents to the Bowie Police Department and other city
BY CHASE COOK STAFF WRITER
experience.” Shelton said she decided to become a teacher because she wanted to reach children before they have a chance to make bad decisions that will affect the rest of their lives, and she realized middle school is a turning point for many young people. “I would rather be able to affect change at this age,” Shelton said. “I try to get to know my kids. I interact with them on a personal level.” Shelton, who learned she was named Teacher of the Year on May 1, was nominated by the school community, said principal Patricia Payne. “I was excited and happy to learn that she won. I’m very
Bowie residents have raised concerns that a residential and retail development along Crain Highway could further clog up that highway and could be unsafe for motorists turning left across the congested highway. McLean-based The Rappaport Companies has requested rezoning its 19-acre property at the intersec-
tion of Crain Highway and Pointer Ridge Drive, titled Amber Ridge, from commercial shopping center to mixed used development. This would allow the developer to build 320 apartment units along with retail property instead of the formerly proposed 200,000 square foot shopping center, according to the rezoning proposal. Some residents are opposed to this project unless the developer places a stop light at the intersection of Crain Highway and Amber Ridge or the developer scales back the density of the housing. The stop light is a key concern for
See TRAFFIC, Page A-6
Upper Marlboro event Teen: ‘It’s fun to do the impossible’ celebrates town’s history Fourteen-year-old earns Apple scholarship to attend conference n
BY CHASE COOK STAFF WRITER
Eleanor Roosevelt High School freshman Shaan Singh, 14, has spent more than half his life coding and programming things to fit his liking. For eight years the Bowie resident has been coding and designing in his free time, modifying the video game Club Penguin when he was six years old, and expanding to website development and iPhone applications as he honed his programming skills. “It is kind of fun to do the impossible,” Shaan said. “I don’t compare myself to other kid programmers. I
NEWS
FIFTH TIME’S A CHARM Citywide effort attracts hundreds to Bowie job fair.
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RAPHAEL TALISMAN/FOR THE GAZETTE
Shaan Singh, 14, of Bowie and a freshman at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, won an Apple scholarship to attend the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
compare myself to other programmers.” A self-proclaimed Apple “fanboy,” Shaan said his passion and coding skills led to a $1,600 Apple scholarship to pay
See TEACHER, Page A-5
Marlborough Day to feature historic flag on Saturday n
for attendance into the company’s biggest conference, the Worldwide Developers Conference, from June 2 to June 6 in San Francisco. It’s a conference that Shaan said he has dreamed of attending, so he designed and submitted an app about himself, a requirement to obtain the scholarship. The scholarship was the only way he could afford to attend the conference as he now only has to pay for airfare and will save money by staying with family in the area, he said. “I’ve always been the person to tinker around with stuff and make the new cool thing,” Shaan said. “The big shift for me is apps. I moved from websites to tryout apps.”
BY ALICE POPOVICI STAFF WRITER
Upper Marlboro will be rolling back the clock about 200 years on Saturday, when British soldier re-enactors, tin punchers, musicians and even a town crier will gather for Marlborough Day, the annual celebration of the town’s history. The theme of the event is the War of 1812, which is being commemorated nationwide with bicentennial celebration events through 2015. “Essentially, we’re trying to make the town feel like it did in the War of 1812,” said Patti Skews, vice chair of
See APP, Page A-7
SPORTS
LEARNING FINESSE Oxon Hill senior goes from the penalty box to being boys lacrosse team’s leading scorer.
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the town’s historical committee. Skews said one of the main attractions of Marlborough Day will be a 30 by 42-foot flag that is a replica of the original star-spangled banner flag, which flew over Fort McHenry in 1814 and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem. The flag was woven last year at the Maryland Historical Society by more than 200 stitchers — with help from volunteers who stopped by to watch the process and add a stitch or two — with the same techniques and in the same six-week time frame as the flag 200 years ago. It will be on display at Schoolhouse Pond next to the Prince George’s County administration building, located at 14741 Governor
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