DANGEROUS DRIVING Bus cameras catch 710 vehicles passing illegally. A-9
The Gazette
NEWS: Germantown man is 90 years young and strong. A-3
GERMANTOWN | CLARKSBURG
FALL SPORTS PREVIEW: A look at Germantown’s soccer and volleyball teams. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014
25 cents
Beazer building in Germantown
Welcome back!
104 townhouses under construction on Mateny Road n
BY
VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
Construction is under way for Beazer Homes’ new townhouse community, Seneca Hill, off Mateny Road in Germantown. Approved is a plan for 104 townhouses on an 8.5-acre site between Mateny Road and Cinnamon Drive north of Clopper Road that previously was a neighborhood shopping center. Townhouses start at $393,990,
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
From left, Christine Thompson, an instructional data analyst, gives a high-five to Nevaeh Lyles, 7, a rising second-grader at Wilson Wims Elementary School in Clarksburg, as she and her father, Charles Lyles, take a tour of the brand-new school on Friday.
They say Brown as governor could help n
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
Some Montgomery County and state officials are hopeful the next General Assembly will direct more school construction money to the county after efforts this year fell through. After a back-to-school press event Monday at Wilson Wims Elementary School — which was built to relieve overcrowding in the Clarksburg area —
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett said he is “very confident” state lawmakers can “make some progress” in the 2015 session toward adopting a funding method that would help the county accommodate its rapidly growing enrollment. As students returned to class Monday, the county school system faces its largest annual enrollment increase since 2000. Montgomery schools will have 154,153 students this school year — 2,864 more than last year, according to Bruce Crispell, director of the school system’s Division of Long-range Planning.
Leggett and other officials said they think a victory in November by gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) might provide a boost to school construction legislation in 2015. Brown already has been part of an administration that has provided “record” investments in the county’s education system, Leggett said. “I’m confident, given at least the expression of the candidates running for governor, especially Mr. Brown, that we have an excellent opportunity of putting together a package collaborating with
See SCHOOLS, Page A-10
Free backpacks a big hit in Germantown About 150 given to students at Middlebrook Mobile Home Park
n
BY
Captain James E. Daly, Jr. Elementary School staff, like Lisa Bonanno, greet returning students from the Middlebrook Mobile Home Park and hand out backpacks on Aug. 20 in Germantown.
VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
For the past four years, the staff at Capt. James Daly Elementary in Germantown has been handing out free backpacks to children living in the Middlebrook Mobile Home Park on Frederick Road the week before school opens. “I want them to have what they need,” said Nora Dietz, principal of the pre-K through grade 5 school on Brandermill Drive, which serves about 600 students. Despite the heavy mid-afternoon rain on Aug. 20, Dietz and volunteer teachers distributed school supplies and
TOM FEDOR/ THE GAZETTE
See BACKPACKS, Page A-10
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
B-11 A-2 B-8 B-4 A-12 B-1
Volume 31, No. 34, Two sections, 28 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette
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ENTERTAINMENT
SWEET, CONFUSING LOVE Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” kicks off this week at the Olney Theatre Center.
B-4
See TOWNHOMES, Page A-10
Motorcyclist killed in Germantown collision n
Officials upbeat on construction bill
and incentives are being offered to buyers who move in within 30 days, said Matt Violette, a Beazer sales representative working in the model unit onsite. As of Monday, 16 units had been sold, he said. “This means we’ll have some [upper end] models and some new refreshing families,” said Michael Moxley, who has lived in the neighboring Stone Ridge community for more than a decade. Tucked in one corner of the site near the adjacent 7-11 store is a small family graveyard, which must
Police say car crossed into oncoming traffic BY
DANIEL LEADERMAN STAFF WRITER
A Montgomery Village man died Sunday evening when the motorcycle he was riding was struck by a car driving on the wrong side of the road in Germantown, according to county police. Preliminary investigation shows that a silver Infinity QX4 was traveling east on Brink Road near Treva Court when it crossed the double yellow lane markers and struck a westbound 1996 Harley Davidson Road King motorcycle, according to a statement from the Montgomery County Police Department Officers responded at about
6:23 p.m. to the 11000 block of Brink Road and found the Infiniti overturned and the motorcycle off the road. The driver of the motorcycle, identified as Kevin Roger Kanke, 52, of Montgomery Village, was found in the woods near the road and was pronounced dead by rescue workers. The driver of the Infiniti, 34-year-old Juan Salvador Morales Duarte of Gaithersburg, was taken to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda with injuries that were not life-threatening, according to police. The collision remains under investigation, and police ask anyone with information to contact the Collision Reconstruction Unit at 240-773-6620. Callers can remain anonymous. dleaderman@gazette.net
Work proceeds on major roadway in Clarksburg n
Little Seneca Parkway to finish by October BY
VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
Clarksburg residents will soon be able to drive through town on a completed Little Seneca Parkway, one of the main roads planned to serve the growing community. One section of the road is already built, running from Ridge Road (Md. 27) to Snowden Farm Parkway and the Clarksburg Village retail center anchored by a HarrisTeeter store. Work crews with Moxley-
Kidwell Construction and Development Services in Frederick County are now extending the road to Frederick Road (Md. 355), terminating at a new intersection near Clarksburg High School. “We expect them to finish by the end of September,” said David Flanagan, president of Elm Street Development, which is building the road as a condition of developing the area with housing. Clarksburg residents have been pressing developers and Montgomery County for years to finish building the community’s planned road system.
See PARKWAY, Page A-10