MAKING A DIFFERENCE Nonprofit works inside, outside classroom. A-4
The Gazette
NEWS: Gaithersburg community gathers to honor former mayor Katz. A-3
GAITHERSBURG | MONTGOMERY VILLAGE DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
25 cents
Will CCT ever reach Clarksburg?
Open doors, open hearts
Jennifer McKnight says hello to her niece Madlynn McKnight, 2, of Culpeper, Va., who has Rett syndrome. McKnight works at The Grille Restaurant in Gaithersburg, where the family had a fundraiser for Madlynn on Nov. 12.
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VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
Gaithersburg eatery serves for a cause SAMANTHA SCHMIEDER STAFF WRITER
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First phase would serve Gaithersburg BY
BILL RYAN/ THE GAZETTE
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SPORTS: Quince Orchard beats Clarksburg, to face defending state champ Northwest. B-1
ennifer McKnight tirelessly planned and collected donations for the second annual “Meals for Maddie” fundraiser on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at The Grille in Gaithersburg to help raise money for Rettsyndrome.org on behalf of her niece, Madlynn, who suffers from the disorder. “Rett syndrome is a postnatal, neurological disorder that occurs almost exclusively
in females,” Melissa Florio, the development coordinator at the nonprofit Rettsyndrome. org, said. “It becomes apparent between six and 18 months. They develop normally up until that point and then parents notice they lose the skills they had known.” Florio explained that the child will lose words they had once known and often lose the ability to crawl or walk. The “hallmark of Rett” is near constant repetitive hand movement. Girls with Rett syndrome can suffer from seizures, scoliosis and irregular breath-
ing patterns. “It affects everything a girl does,” Florio said. On Nov. 12, from 11 a.m. until close, The Grille gave patrons donating money to the organization at the door a discount on their meal and provided space for a silent auction where the McKnight family auctioned off prizes ranging from a week’s stay in Myrtle Beach to an electric guitar. Jennifer McKnight, of Aspen
Even if Republican governor-elect Larry Hogan opts to help fund the Corridor Cities Transitway project in Montgomery County, it may be many years before upcounty citizens benefit from it. That’s because the proposed bus rapid transit system is being planned in two phases. As envisioned now, the first nine-mile leg would run from Shady Grove Metro station in Rockville, looping west through the Life Sciences Center, Universities at Shady Grove and Kentlands in Gaithersburg, to the Metropolitan Grove MARC station. “It’s like a light rail on rubber tires” and similar to Metroway in Alexandria, Va., said Rick Kiegel, CCT project manager with the Maryland Transit Administration, who spoke before the county Planning Board on Thursday. Kiegel said the project is at 15 percent of the design stage and that he hopes to reach the 30 percent stage by next August. Assuming the building of Phase I is funded, construction would start in the spring of 2018 and the line would open in 2021, Kiegel said. The estimated capi-
See CCT, Page A-13
See CAUSE, Page A-13
Area man spreads word on Asperger’s Montgomery Village resident hopes to create awareness, support group n
BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
Imagine what it’s like to live most of your life knowing that your way of thinking and understand-
ing is very different from those around you, but not knowing why. For more than five decades, Terence Lynch of Montgomery Village has struggled with a variety of social behaviors, including not wanting to be around other people, speaking what some consider to be brutal honesty, being naively trusting and thinking in a literal and rigid manner.
“I remembered the rigid thinking when I was about five years old and learning that there was a left shoe and a right shoe,” Lynch, 59, said. “The rigid thinking told me that there had to be a left sock and a right sock and I was obsessed with figuring it out.” It wasn’t until early 2010, when Lynch was 55 years old, that he began to surmise the main reason
for his “odd” way of thinking and awkward social interactions. His partner was reading an article in Ladies’ Home Journal about what it is like to live with someone who has Asperger’s disorder. “She showed me the article and said, ‘This is you,’” Lynch said. Asperger’s disorder is an au-
See ASPERGER’S, Page A-12
Judge says ‘a willingness to change’ is key
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DANIEL LEADERMAN STAFF WRITER
Jonah Carter said there was a time he would have traded his last breath for a hit of his drug of choice, crack cocaine. “Using was more important
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
B-13 A-2 B-9 B-5 A-14 B-1
than living,” said Carter, 46, of Gaithersburg, who started using the drug when he was 18. Carter has now been clean for nearly two years. He has a commercial driver’s license, and has kept the same job for a year and a half. He credits what he’s accomplished to the Montgomery County Circuit Court Adult Drug
See COURT, Page A-13
Volume 27, No. 47 Two sections, 32 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette
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Jonah Carter of Gaithersburg, one of eight Adult Drug Court graduates, speaks to current participants of Drug Court, telling them to think about what they are doing, so they make it to graduation. At left is Circuit Judge Nelson W. Rupp Jr.
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Restaurants in, out in Kentlands n
Cava Grill to offer authentic Greek cuisine BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
Drug court graduates celebrate life changes n
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
A sign on the door of HaKuBa restaurant in the Kentlands tells customers that they have closed permanently.
One restaurant recently celebrated its grand debut in the Kentlands, while two others have shut their doors for good in the Gaithersburg mixed-use neighborhood. Cava Grill, a fast-casual restaurant known for its authentic Greek cuisine, began serving customers Thursday at its 213 Kentlands Blvd. location. It has an expanded open-kitchen layout, local beer and wine on tap and rotating seasonal soups, juices and teas made in-house daily, according to a Cava Grill news release. The eatery marked its opening with a Community Day, where lunch and dinner rice bowls, salads and pitas were free with an encouraged donation to the chain’s local nonprofit partners, MicroGreens and City Blossoms.
See KENTLANDS, Page A-13