GAITHERSBURG HELP Group plans community fundraiser run/walk. A-4
The Gazette
ENTERTAINMENT: National Players present “To Kill a Mockingbird” in Olney. B-5
GAITHERSBURG | MONTGOMERY VILLAGE
SPORTS: Magruder linebacker/ slotback steps up to play quarterback after injury. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014
Small plane flips at airpark
25 cents
Suspect arrested in Gaithersburg burglaries
Helping hands
Three passengers suffered minor injuries in Gaithersburg incident n
Money, electronics, vitamin supplements taken n
BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
A small plane with three passengers on board skidded off the runway and flipped over Saturday at the Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, according to officials. At around 10:30 a.m., Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service crews were dispatched to the scene where the four-passenger plane sat overturned on the grass, according to spokesman Pete Piringer. “Witnesses say the plane was landing/landed and skidded off the end of the runway and became upside down in a grassy area,” Piringer wrote in an email to The Gazette. The three people on board received some minor injuries and were evaluated by paramedics at the scene, but none of them were taken to the hospital, Piringer said. The names of the passengers have not been released. There were no other associated hazards, like a fuel spill, as a result of the incident, Piringer said. Fire and Rescue crews cleared the scene and turned it back over to airpark officials around 11:30 a.m., he added. Keith Miller, the chief executive officer of the Montgomery County Revenue Authority, which operates the airpark off Md. 124, said the plane flipped over because it overran the runway. However, what caused the plane to overrun the runway is still unclear, he said.
Gaithersburg Police arrested a man Sept. 4 in connection with two commercial burglaries in the city. Miles Connor Folksman, 19 and of no fixed address, has been charged with six counts of burglary, three counts of theft and one count of destruction of property, according to police. At 7 p.m. on Aug. 19, a commercial burglary was reported at 431 N. Frederick Ave., police said. Sometime between Aug. 9 and 19, police believe Folksman entered the business and removed property. “The building is a two-story office complex with various businesses in it,” said Dan Lane, a Gaithersburg police officer and spokesman. More than a week later, at around 6:30 a.m. Aug. 29, a commercial burglary was reported at the same address. Police believe Folksman entered four offices and removed property from each business. In both incidents, Folksman allegedly stole cash, supplements for vitamins and electronics, Lane said. Folksman is currently being held at the Montgomery County Detention Center. Bond information was not immediately available Wednesday. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 3, according to online court records.
See PLANE, Page A-10
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Choice Hotels employee Linda Dowell of Gaithersburg (left) and Foulger-Pratt employee Bridget Pinkney of Germantown paint a shed as part of a day to repair a community garden in Gaithersburg.
Companies build community BY
O
SAMANTHA SCHMIEDER STAFF WRITER
n Thursday, 125 volunteers from Choice Hotels International and Foulger-Pratt Companies worked with Rebuilding Together Montgomery County and Montgomery Housing Partnership to build a new playground, picnic area and community garden for two low-income garden-style apartment complexes in Gaithersburg. The communities, located at 425 and 439 N. Frederick Ave., are owned by Montgomery Housing Partnership (MHP). Lesia Bullock, the communications and volunteer manager at MHP, explained that they bought the property in order to preserve
the option of affordable housing in the area and for the residents that live there, some for almost 15 years. “A few months ago, Rebuilding Together put out a call to area nonprofits to see if they had a project large enough for 125 volunteers,” Bullock said. The partnership had already been speaking with residents at the Gaithersburg properties about how they wanted a safe place for the 50 or so children that live there to play, but MHP couldn’t afford to provide that right away. “We pitched it and went for it,” Bullock said.
See PLAYGROUND, Page A-10
jedavis@gazette.net
Habitat wraps $5M townhome community in Gaithersburg Residents set to move into new homes in early November
n
BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
Oversized ceremonial keys given to homeowners Saturday at a dedication ceremony for Habitat for Humanity Metro
Maryland’s freshly built Maple Hill community symbolize not only the key to a home, but also the key to an improved quality of life. Construction is nearly complete at the 19-unit townhome neighborhood on Emory Grove Road in Gaithersburg, according to John Paukstis, executive director of the regional Habitat chapter. A few interior tasks —
like painting, trim work and installing appliances — still need to be finished, he said. The nonprofit built three, three-story buildings with townhomes, each with 1,400 square feet of living space, three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and a single-car garage. Nearly 3,500 volunteers worked
See HABITAT, Page A-10
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Eji Solomon (right), who was among the new homeowners to be presented with a ceremonial key, looks back at her children Yosef (left) and Bethlehem during the dedication Saturday on a rainy afternoon of the Maple Hill community built by Habitat for Humanity in Gaithersburg.
Whooping cough case brings total to 16 Montgomery students n
Gaithersburg High is latest school affected BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
A Gaithersburg High School student has come down with pertussis, marking a total of 16 students at public and private Montgomery County schools who have caught the disease commonly known as whooping cough. This latest case, reported to Mont-
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
gomery health officials Wednesday, means eight county public schools have had the disease show up among their students. The schools include Cold Spring Elementary School; Julius West, Cabin John and Robert Frost middle schools; and Wootton, Sherwood, Walter Johnson and Gaithersburg high schools. The 16 cases also include students who attend private schools in the county. Mary Anderson, a Montgomery County Health and Human Services spokeswoman, said she did not know
how many private school students are among the cases or what schools they attend. That information has not been provided “for privacy purposes,” she said. Letters were to be sent home Wednesday to parents at Gaithersburg High. At the other public schools, letters have already been sent home with students. County officials believe that most of the students with pertussis were exposed to the disease at Capital Camps, a summer camp in Pennsylvania. The
NEWS
B-13 A-2 B-9 B-5 A-14 B-1
WALKING THE SCHOOL BEAT School resource officer roams the halls to keep students safe.
A-9
1934336
two cases involving students from Sherwood and Gaithersburg high schools are not believed to be tied to the camp. About 200 children from Montgomery County attended the summer camp, Anderson said. The camp sent a letter earlier this month notifying campers that someone at the camp had tested positive for the disease, she said. Anderson said it’s possible more cases of the disease will pop up but that they won’t necessarily be related to the camp. “They could just be your typical
Volume 55, No. 37 Two sections, 32 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette
Please
RECYCLE
cases occurring,” she said. So far in 2014, the county has seen 36 pertussis cases, including the 16 students, Anderson said. In 2013, there were 40 cases in the county. Montgomery, similar to other parts of the country, saw a high number of cases in 2012 when 78 people came down with disease. A student diagnosed with whooping cough needs to be treated with antibiotics for five days before they can return to
See COUGH, Page A-10