SCHOOL CODE County outlines new discipline guides. A-6
ENTERTAINMENT: Alternative metal band brings new music to Fillmore Silver Spring. A-10
The Gazette GAITHERSBURG | MONTGOMERY VILLAGE DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014
25 cents
Dishing up hope
Woman has been donating to Gaithersburg food center for decades BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
Two days a week, Beulah “Boo” Law drives her 2006 gold Chevrolet Malibu — or “Maliboo” as her license plate reads — to Manna Food Center in Gaithersburg and she never comes empty-handed. On Tuesdays and Fridays, the 91-year-old Bethesda woman picks up food that isn’t selling or is about to expire from Bethesda Co-op in Cabin John and drops it off at Montgomery County’s main food bank. It’s a service she has been providing for nearly 20 years. “For one thing, if nobody did it, they’d just throw [the food] away in the garbage,” Law said. “And you know some of it was good food, perfectly good...Especially when you see hungry people like you see [at Manna].” Law has already donated just over 16,000 pounds of food this year, which is the average amount that the center distributes to its clients daily, according to Mark Foraker, the director of development at Manna. Since 2007, Law has dropped off more than 94,000 pounds of food, he added. Law’s edible contributions are helping to feed the rising number of households who come to the food bank for assistance. Manna’s records show that it is serving about 3,750 households each month, which is nearly 150 households more per month this year than last, Foraker said. It is “highly reaffirming,” Foraker said, to watch people like Law be so committed to the cause because it shows the community, in addition to Manna’s staff, is devoted to the organization’s mission to end hunger.
Gaithersburg among areas to be studied for future additions BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
Some students will walk into buildings on their first day of class that mark the latest progress in Montgomery County Public Schools’ efforts to expand amid a quickly growing student population. After a year and a half at the North Lake Center in Rockville, Bel Pre Elementary School in Silver Spring will hold classes this year in a
Weather cooperates in Gaithersburg for event’s final weekend BY
SAMANTHA SCHMIEDER STAFF WRITER
The nine-day Montgomery County Agricultural Fair came to an end on Saturday and Martin Svrcek, executive director of the fair, estimates a total of 215,000 people attended, even though severe weather conditions closed the fair on Aug. 12. “A rain on the final Friday or Saturday is absolutely brutal, but rain on a Tuesday is not bad from a business side because it’s one of the slower days on the grounds to begin with,”
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
At 91, Beulah Law of Bethesda still brings food donations to Manna Food Center in Gaithersburg. “In some ways it confirms that we are doing something right when you see members of the community buying into the exact same thing that we’re doing,” Foraker said. Kevin Trostle, Manna’s director of operations, said that much of Law’s deliveries are
distributed to food bank clients on the same day that they are brought in. “It’s just wonderful when she shows up,” he said. “She knows everyone and everyone
See FOOD, Page A-8
new building. Principal Carmen Van Zutphen said Bel Pre’s 508 students will learn in the environmentally friendly school, which has an outdoor courtyard and a capacity of 587 students. The new structure replaced the original building, which was constructed in 1968 at the same site. In her roughly 13 years at the school, Van Zutphen said, it always has had multiple portable classrooms. This past school year, she said, the building was so full, it supplemented its space with eight portables. “Our whole second grade prior to this renovation was in relocatable portables,” she
said. “Now our second grade is all inside, with room to spare.” Bruce Crispell, director of the school system’s Division of Long-range Planning, said that as of the first day of classes on Monday, county schools will have 154,153 students this year — 2,864 more than last year. That’s the largest jump from one school year to the next for the school system since 2000, he said. Crispell said the school system — “the largest [in the state] for some time” — has seen development, children immigrating to
See SCHOOLS, Page A-8
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Svrcek explained. “But even our slow days are busy days, they’re just not as busy as the busiest days.” Tuesday’s closure, however, did affect one of the fair’s scheduled, special days for community members. “The most affected people were our senior citizens because Tuesday is the fair’s senior day,” Svrcek said. “We plan so much for them. There’s a trolley that goes through the fair grounds that we don’t offer any other day.” Because special events such as military and family days were already slated later in the week, tying up buildings and personnel,
See FAIR, Page A-8
B-9 A-2 B-6 A-10 A-9 B-1
PRIVATE SCHOOLS How private schools support diversity, promote tradition and create global citizens; plus: a complete directory of private schools in Montgomery County.
INSIDE TODAY
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Gaithersburg’s Edwin and Mariela Pelaz play the ring toss during the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair on Friday evening in Gaithersburg.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION
INDEX
Constitution Gardens proposal includes gathering, learning and play spaces at Gaithersburg park BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
County’s agricultural fair closes until next year n
Nature and history in harmony n
Students returning to upgraded buildings n
FALL SPORTS PREVIEW: Quince Orchard golf has experience, needs consistency. B-1
Volume 55, No. 33 Two sections, 24 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette
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RECYCLE
Constitution Gardens Park in Gaithersburg is likely to soon become a space where visitors can reconnect with nature and learn about the city’s rich history. Two designers of the project presented a plan aimed at making the park more inviting and interactive to the City Council at a Monday evening meeting. “Our vision for Constitution Gardens is a park for all ages, a park throughout time,” said Lauren Wheeler, the principal of Natural Resources Design Inc. of Takoma Park. Under the proposed plan, the park would have three different sections that would each reflect upon a time in Gaithersburg history. The Seneca Era, located at the back of the park, represents a distant period when indigenous people lived
See PARK, Page A-5
Youth leader gets 40 years in prison for sexual abuse Former member of Gaithersburg church sentenced for molestation of four boys
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BY
DANIEL LEADERMAN STAFF WRITER
A former youth leader with Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg was sentenced to 40 years in prison Thursday for sexually abusing four boys in the 1980s and early 1990s. Nathaniel Morales, 56, a former Germantown resident who moved to Las Vegas, was convicted in back-to-back trials in May. The first trial involved three boys who attended the now-defunct Montgomery County Covenant Academy, where Morales was a teacher. The second involved another boy who attended a Washington, D.C., church with Morales in the early 1980s. The boys, now adults, testified that Morales molested them at group sleepovers, in their homes and at a church retreat. Thursday’s sentencing hearing applied to both trials. The Gazette does not usually name victims of sex crimes. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Terrence J. McGann called Morales a “pathetic human being” and said a long sentence was the only way to punish him, protect society and deter other potential molestors. Morales’s attorney, Alan Drew, argued that the likelihood of Morales committing further offenses was rather small. Drew pointed to a court-ordered psychological evaluation that indicated Morales posed only a low to moderate risk of offending again. Assistant State’s Attorney Amanda Michalski disagreed with that assessment, arguing that since the abuse occurred over a period of several years, Morales had already showed that there was a risk he’d offend again. Michalski described Morales as a sexual predator who put himself in a position of trust and authority over the
See ABUSE, Page A-8