FOOTBALL PREVIEW
HIGH SCHOOL
A breakdown of all 30 Montgomery County teams, preseason rankings and features. B-1
The Gazette GERMANTOWN | POOLESVILLE | BOYDS
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
PurpleLine IN THE PATH OF THE
SOUNDING OFF
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
A2020Vision
WOODSIDE/16TH STREET STATION, 9:07 A.M. “It doesn’t make sense, to put all this in jeopardy for nothing,” said Babou Jobateh, as he stood outside the
Jerry’s Subs he has owned for six years. Jobateh said he worked at the store for 20 years, until he had saved enough money to take out a loan and buy the franchise. He is there from open until close, seven days a week, and is hoping the Purple Line turns out to be just talk.
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Austin Lee, owner of Spring Discount Beer & Wine on 16th Street in Silver Spring, will have to find another location when the Spring Center is demolished to make way for one of the Purple Line stations.
A virtual ride
n 16-MILE
LIGHT RAIL LINE WILL LINK BETHESDA WITH NEW CARROLLTON BY JAMIE
T
ANFENSON-COMEAU AND KARA ROSE STAFF WRITERS
he Purple Line has been on the books in Maryland for decades, but as 2020 looms, Purple Line planners and Montgomery County residents are hammering out the nitty-gritty details of exactly what this $2.2 billion light rail line will look like. The 16-mile line, which will link Bethesda with New Carrollton, will cross parts of both Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, linking up with Metro stops and MARC train stations. The $2.2 billion price tag is
to be divided among federal, state and local governments. The U.S. and Maryland governments each are expected to contribute about $900 million, and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties are expected to provide the remainder, said Leif Dormsjo, Maryland’s deputy secretary for transportation. State officials recently announced that $680 million was earmarked from the recently raised fuel tax for the project. The state also is pursuing a public-private partnership to help defray its costs. Besides being responsible for designing, constructing, operating and
See PURPLE, Page A-11
Parents of football player who died sue Frostburg State Germantown student died of injuries he received in practices, suit claims n
BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH STAFF WRITER
The family of a Germantown man who died in August 2011 after suffering repeated head injuries in college football practices at Frostburg State University blame his coaches’ “utter incompetence” for the student’s death, according to a lawsuit they filed last week. Ken and Kristen Sheely, the
NEWS
ON THE BALL
Almost 1,000 people came out to watch players participate in a Wounded Warriors Soccer game Saturday in Germantown.
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25 cents
parents of football player Derek Sheely, along with Derek’s sister Keyton, are suing Derek Sheely’s coaches, the NCAA and the p a r e n t company of Schutt Sports, the manufacturer of the helmet he wore. Sheely T h e y are seeking more than $1.5 million in
See FOOTBALL, Page A-14
BY KARA ROSE, AGNES BLUM AND MARLENA CHERTOCK STAFF WRITERS
The Purple Line is a $2.2 billion light rail project that will cross 16 miles to connect Bethesda and New Carrollton, passing through many communities along the way. Take a virtual morning ride on the transit line from Bethesda to Takoma Park to see the project’s impact on Montgomery County. MTA RENDERING
A Purple Line light rail car pulls into the Bethesda station, as envisioned by the Maryland Transit Administration.
ONLINE
n For an interactive map of the Purple Line and more stories about the project, go to www.gazette.net/purpleline.
Bethesda Station, 9 a.m.
The Purple Line station will be at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street, just outside the Regal Bethesda movie theater. Stairs or a high-speed
elevator will lead to the platform. The drop is too steep to allow for escalators. Trains will run every six minutes during peak hours, and 10 to 12 minutes during off-peak hours. As the above-ground train travels west toward Silver Spring, riders will be able to watch cyclists and runners on the adjacent 16-foot-wide Georgetown Branch Trail extension of the Capital Crescent Trail, separated from the rails by a fence. Formerly a freight rail line run by CSX, the line was purchased by Montgomery County in 1988 and preserved as a hikerbiker trail until it could be converted for future rail use.
See RIDE, Page A-11
Security teams prepare for start of school year n
Sessions focus on drugs, gangs, other threats
BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
Detective Ed Wilcher faced a darkened room, clicking through his presentation on the youth gangs in Montgomery County. His audience Friday at Northwest High School in Germantown was about 20 school security staff from Montgomery County Public Schools, who were there to get an update on some of the groups they’d be partly responsible for moni-
NEWS
toring when school opened on Monday. Wilcher, of the Montgomery County Police Department, said police are currently tracking 33 gangs, ranging from major organizations such as the Crips, Bloods and MS-13 to smaller neighborhood crews that operate within small local territories. Friday’s information session was one of two that the county’s school security staff will have, said Alyson Baber, one of six security coordinators for Montgomery County Public Schools. There will be another in Janu-
50 YEARS LATER: A MARCH TO CELEBRATE
County residents remember the historic 1963 March on Washington.
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See SECURITY, Page A-14
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RECYCLE
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Lt. Matthew Trivett, a fire and explosives investigator with the Montgomery County Police Department, gives county school security guards a look at two types of pipe bombs during a daylong security seminar Friday at Northwest High School in Germantown.
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