EQUINE THERAPY Circle of Hope offers program for veterans. A-4
SPORTS: Gaithersburg baseball continues its strong tradition of top pitchers. B-1
The Gazette GAITHERSBURG | MONTGOMERY VILLAGE
NEWS: 17th annual Paws in the Park scheduled for Sunday in Gaithersburg. A-3
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
25 cents
Gaithersburg man sentenced to serve 150 years in prison ‘Beer-pong’ defendant convicted of sexually assaulting five men
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VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Northwest High School senior Hannah Kauffman (center) works with actor Al Richardson of Gaithersburg (left) and others at Gaithersburg’s Casey Community Center to produce a play.
Gaithersburg theater company brings mentor back year after year Germantown student has more than 900 student service hours with ArtStream n
BY
SAMANTHA SCHMIEDER STAFF WRITER
For Northwest High School senior Hannah Kauffman, mentoring ArtStream’s Gaithersburg Inclusive Theatre Company for the past five years has been more than community service — it’s been a passion. “I started in eighth grade with no expectations,” Kauffman, who turns 18 on
April 25, said. “We have 18 or 20 actors with a complete range of abilities. Just being able to see them grow over the five years I’ve been here has been amazing.” ArtStream’s general mission statement, according to its website, is to “create artistic opportunities for individuals in communities traditionally underserved by the arts.” Part of that occurs through its Inclusive Theatre Companies in Gaithersburg, Silver Spring, Arlington and Raleigh and at George Mason University that are open to adults with intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities and those who are on the Autism Spectrum. There are two groups
in Gaithersburg and Kauffman has been working with Group B. Nicolette Stearns, a cofounder of ArtStream, has children around Kauffman’s age and noticed her in their plays and social groups. “We needed mentors at ArtStream. She’s kind, smart, a quick study, respectful and very much a leader in the group. I asked if she wanted to come and she never left,” Stearns said. Montgomery County Public School students must each earn 75 Student Ser-
See MENTOR, Page A-10
Home-school group earns spot in tournament n
Montgomery team to represent Maryland BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
The living room of the Coile home in Laytonsville is filled with science materials: a microscope, boxes of balsa wood, a large mat for testing robots and a cabinet topped with state and local science competition trophies. “This was going to be the room I kept neat for company,” Emily Coile said. But Emily’s husband West Coile coaches the Pilgrimage Homeschool Science Olympiad Team and students and science activities often take up two or three rooms in their home so the living room goes
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TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Rachel Coile, 16, discusses her protein modeling as area home-schooled youth gather to study for the Science Olympiad National Tournament. to the greater cause. It seems to be well worth it. Coile’s science teams earned
the right to represent Maryland at the 2015 Science Olympiad National Tournament in Ne-
braska May 15 and 16. Pilgrimage won the state championship in both the middle school and high school divisions April 11 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The teams, 13 middle schoolers and 15 high school students, meet at the Coiles’ on Monday nights to work on the activities they will enter in competition. Students come other times, too, depending on their schedules, and being young scientists, they meet virtually through Skype and other social media. Kentie Booth, 13, was at the Coiles’ on a recent Wednesday afternoon and showed off the robot he created with his partner Rebecca Fishell. They will compete in the Robocross
See TOURNAMENT, Page A-10
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FARCICAL SERVANT Montgomery College plays with commedia dell’arte in production of “Servant of Two Masters.” B-4
Volume 28, No. 16 Two sections, 28 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette
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RECYCLE
A Gaithersburg man who was recently convicted of sexually assaulting young men when they were drunk, was sentenced on April 15 to 150 years in prison. The sentence is less than the 200 years that prosecutors had asked for, but more than the minimum of 78 years under sentencing guidelines. “[The request] is extreme, but his behavior is extreme,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Mays. “[We want] to make sure
he never sets foot outside the four walls of the prison.” Joey Poindexter, 40, who had been held in solitary confinement in the county jail in Boyds, did not speak during the sentencing before Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Richard E. Jordan. Poindexter was arrested in October 2013 and charged with 12 counts of second-degree sexual offenses and related charges involving five victims. According to his attorney, Rebecca Nitkin, Poindexter would be eligible for parole in 75 years. During the hearing, Nitkin said Poindexter could possibly
See PRISON, Page A-9
Late-session stall kills student-member bill Proposal to extend Montgomery voting rights ran into opposing senator n
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
With minutes left in the Maryland General Assembly’s 2015 session, state Sen. Nancy King thought there was time to pass a bill to expand voting rights for Montgomery County’s student school board member. “I thought, ‘This is going to sail right through,’” said King (DDist. 39) of Montgomery Village. But there was a roadblock — state Sen. Michael J. Hough, whose skeptical questioning ran out the clock, preventing a final
vote on the bill. Hough (R-Dist. 4) of Brunswick said in an interview last week that, after reading the bill with a few minutes left, he “joined the bipartisan tradition in killing that bill.” He noted that former Sen. Brian E. Frosh made sure the bill didn’t pass in a previous session. Currently, Montgomery’s student member of the board can vote on many issues. The bill would have added previously restricted matters, including the capital and operating budgets, collective bargaining, school closures and school boundaries. The student still would not vote on negative personnel issues, such
See BILL, Page A-9
MCPS contemplating final-exam exemptions to prevent redundancy n
Board to take broad look at testing in district BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County Public Schools may exempt some students from final exams next year if they’re in classes that require them to take one of two state tests. The school system is considering the change following a request from two school board
members concerned about students taking redundant tests. In a March 24 letter, board President Patricia O’Neill and board member Philip Kauffman asked Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers to consider final exam exemptions this year for students in five subjects to “provide some relief for our students and staff from this redundant local and state testing.” Students in the district’s Algebra, Algebra 2 and English 10 courses take Partnership for
See EXAMS, Page A-10