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‘Bring It On: The Musical’ somersaults into Strathmore. B-4
The Gazette GERMANTOWN | POOLESVILLE | BOYDS
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Wednesday, March 26, 2014
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DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Parents and students trudge through the snow to Bethesda Elementary School on Tuesday. Only a couple of wet inches fell and county schools opened as usual — unlike the ten times when snow has prompted closings this season.
Schools can ask state to waive five snow days Montgomery sticks to request for four days
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BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County Public Schools is sticking with its snow day waiver request — for now. The Maryland State Board of Education decided Tuesday that school districts can ask that up to five days missed due to bad weather be waived, but Montgomery is still asking for only a four-day waiver, according to Dana Tofig, a spokesman for the county school system.
School officials are undecided as to whether they will ask the state to waive the additional day, Tofig said. County students have had 10 wintery days off this school year — six days more than the four days the district built into the calendar. The state requires districts to hold 180 instruction days. Superintendent Joshua P. Starr sent the four-day waiver request to State Superintendent Lillian M. Lowery nearly two weeks before the state school board’s decision and a few days before the school system’s latest snow day on March 17. If the district were granted its current waiver request, it would
need to make up two instruction days. As of Tuesday, officials planned to add one day to the calendar if the district is granted a waiver, but they weren’t sure about the second day. The school system will either ask that it be waived or decide to make it up as well, Tofig said. “Hopefully we will hear from the state soon and will be able to set a final calendar for the rest of the school year,” Tofig said in an email. Lowery will make the call on each school system’s waiver request, although no deadline has been set for those decisions. lpowers@gazette.net
Keeping tabs on the weather Damascus man reports daily data to National Weather Service n
BY CHRISTOPHER NEELY SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
This winter was one of the coldest and snowiest in Montgomery County in more than 30 years, and Robert J. Leffler has the stats to prove it. Leffler, 63, has been voluntarily running Montgomery County’s weather observation station in the backyard of his Damascus home since 1981. He said this
Montgomery County delegate: ‘Time is of the essence’
BY
TIFFANY ARNOLD STAFF WRITER
The death of a Silver Spring man who collapsed in police custody and later died has sparked a debate over whether police officers should carry lifesaving devices to treat heart failure. “This should be a wakeup call to the county, that they should do something promptly,” said Mike Mage, chairman of the Montgomery County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Mage was talking about Kareem Ali, a 65-year-old mentally disabled Silver Spring man who died in 2010 after a scuffle with
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police. Police claimed he was “unresponsive” in a stairwell and were trying to move him outside, sparking the conflict. Police used a Taser stun device and pepper spray to subdue him. He cleared an initial medical check with Montgomery County Fire & Rescue personnel, who left the scene after that. But Ali then passed out in the back of a police van and had to be hospitalized. He was pronounced dead on Oct. 14 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. Ali’s official cause of death was schizophrenia-induced agitated delirium complicated by police restraint, an enlarged heart and obesity. The manner of death was ruled undetermined, said Bruce Goldfarb, a spokesman for the state medical examiner’s office. On March 10, Montgomery
County, family reach $450,000 settlement n
Known for stocking craft beer, manager of Cuginis Restaurant and Bar wins county competition
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‘Bottom line, both sides came to the conclusion that this was fair’ BY
BY
TIFFANY ARNOLD
Local beer connoisseur and home brewer Danny Glazier is giving beer a spicy twist with a habanero ginger pale ale he brewed with brother Justin Glazier and brother-in-law Dave Stump. The trio call themselves Brotherhood Brewing and their ale, Fire Drill, was named the best home-brew in Montgomery County in a competition held by local distributors this winter. If
A wrongful death lawsuit spurred by the death of Kareem Ali, a mentally disabled man who died after a scuffle with Montgomery County police, has resulted in a $450,000 settlement between the family and the county, according to a March 10 agreement filed in U.S. District Court. “Bottom line, both sides came to the conclusion that this was fair,” county attorney Marc Hansen said.
See SETTLEMENT, Page A-10
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SARAH SCULLY STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
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Home brewers taste local beer business
Man’s death sparks debate over defibrillators n
winter was one of the toughest he has experienced. “This winter was consistently cold and extremely snowy,” Leffler said. “The snow total was the third highest I’ve ever recorded.” Leffler said of the past 10 winters, eight have accumulated a below-average snowfall. The record-setting winter of 2009-10 and the 1995-96 winter are the only ones since 1981 that trumped the most recent total, he said. Only December was warmer than the
they win at the regional level next week, Cuginis Restaurant and Bar of Poolesville, where Danny Glazier is manager, will get six kegs of the fiery brew, which they’ll tap at the bar to sell to customers. Scott Smith, division sales manager for the Craft Brew Alliance, organized the home-brew competition among the Washington and Maryland distributors with whom he works. Widmer Brothers Brewery of Portland, Ore., a member of the Craft Brew Alliance, is sponsoring the competition. When Carlee Delt, a representative with distributor Montgomery Eagle, asked Cuginis to participate, owner Barbara Stull turned to her in-house beer ex-
See BREWERS, Page A-10
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