AIDING GOLD MEDAL DREAMS Olympic skater set to glide at Laurel fundraiser. A-4
NEWS: Family, friends help Landover man celebrate 100th birthday. A-6
The Gazette
NORTHERN AND CENTRAL PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNT Y
SPORTS: Laurel High boys soccer player among top scorers in county. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Thursday, September 11, 2014
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Pay hike proposed for elected leaders County executive, council would get top salaries in state n
BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
A Prince George’s County Council proposal to raise the pay of its members and the county executive is coming under fire from some residents due to the amount of the increase and the timing. “In recent years, the county has had to impose furloughs on county workers and also yank money from public
ALICE POPOVICI/THE GAZETTE
Guadalupe Revilla, 34, and her son, Erwin Vera-Revilla (right), 7, of Lanham attend a Sept. 6 vigil and rally in memory of Thelma Fernandez Flores, who was fatally struck by a car on Sept. 1 while crossing a busy intersection on East West Highway in Riverdale Park. Next to them, Socorro Saavedra, 39, of Hyattsville holds a sign asking motorists to honk their horns in support of a safer intersection.
Pedestrian death spurs calls for safer intersections Nearly 200 at rally seek improvements in Riverdale Park n
BY
ALICE POPOVICI STAFF WRITER
Nearly 200 people gathered with signs and flowers Saturday morning on East-West Highway in Riverdale Park to call attention to a crowded intersection where a woman was fatally struck by a car Sept. 1 while crossing the street. Many in the crowd at the event organized by nonprofit immigrant rights organization CASA de Maryland wore white shirts in memory of Thelma Fernandez Flores, 31 of Riverdale.
Flores’ family members say she was coming back from the MegaMart supermarket with bags of groceries when she and her three-year-old daughter, Isabella Cuellar Fernandez, were struck. Fernandez is in the hospital recovering from her injuries, said family members. “We wanted to be with her family,” said Mireya Santacruz, 29, of Laurel, who said she is a family friend. “Raise some kind of awareness...so that they can put something there to protect the pedestrians a little bit more.” Riverdale Park Mayor Vernon Archer, who attended the event, said that he and other officials have reached out to the Maryland State Highway Ad-
Police: Mother had been sent for psychiatric evaluation days before killing children BY
Residents divided on term limit increase Voters to decide on measure Nov. 4
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BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
Voters will decide whether the Prince George’s County executive and council should get a third term when they vote on a term limit referendum question on the Nov. 4 ballot, but some local groups are already mobilizing in opposition to the measure. A referendum increasing the county executive and council’s term limits from two to three was approved unanimously on July 23 by the County Council to go onto the fall gubernatorial ballot, where it will appear as “Question J.” William Missouri of Mitchellville
Nate Morris of Cheverly said he has been holding his toddler son’s hand a little tighter since hearing of the death of two children in his neighborhood Sunday. Sonya Spoon, 24, of Cheverly was arrested and Spoon charged with two counts of first-degree murder Sunday after admitting to suffocating her two toddlers, ages 1 and 3.
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Laurel dogs and their owners enjoy a day at the pool.
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Former Olympic gold medalist joins 19 other former athletes in 16th season
Former Olympic gold medalist Zina Garrison is used to being a star on the tennis court, but now the Hyattsville resident is looking to shine in a different forum. Garrison, 50, a former professional tennis star, will compete on the NBC reality show, “The Biggest Loser: Glory Days” for a shot at $250,000. Garrison said she hopes to not only set an example of what can be done, but to help people understand and accept their own bodies. “This gives me an opportunity to get
See TERMS, Page A-9
See TV, Page A-10
BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
Volume 17, No. 37, Two sections, 20 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette Please
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George’s County, and has taken up the term limit issue. She’s created a website, nothreeterms.com, and an accompanying Facebook page, to share information on county term limits. Ahmed said that many officials are elected by only single digit percentages of the total number of registered voters in the county, given that most voters in Prince George’s are Democrats, and county’s closed party primaries tend to decide elections. In the 2014 primary, 18.8 percent of all registered voters in the county voted. In the 2012 primary, only 15.2 percent of all registered voters voted. Prince George’s County has 510,012 registered voters as of the last election, 442,639 of whom are registered Democrats, according to state elections
DOG DAYS OF SUMMER
“It’s crazy,” said Morris, who was taking his son for a walk near the community park a few blocks from Spoon’s home the day after the homicide. “If you can’t [take care of] your kids, then don’t have kids.” Tay Edwards, another neighbor, said it was unsettling to hear about the deaths. “I was completely shocked,” she said. “Stuff like this doesn’t happen around here. It’s a quiet neighborhood. Nothing ever happens around here.” Edwards said there are many children who live in the neighborhood and she often sees them playing in driveways or streets, although she could not remember meeting Spoon or her children. Spoon had been living with her parents and two children on Forest Road in Cheverly for several months,
Hyattsville woman to compete on ‘Biggest Loser’
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co-chaired the seven-member Prince George’s County Charter Review Commission, which recommended the term limit increase. Missouri, a retired Prince George’s County Circuit Court judge, said having two-term limits may keep good candidates who’ve worked outside government from running, as it requires 10 years in government to be fully vested in the retirement plan. “They wouldn’t receive any pension whatsoever because they’d be two years shy of the vesting requirement,” Missouri said. Missouri said the turnover also created a lack of institutional knowledge and experience. Shabnam Ahmed, former school board student member and political activist, is working to create a movement around election reform in Prince
EMILIE SHAUGHNESSY STAFF WRITER
See CRASH, Page A-9
See PAY, Page A-9
Toddlers’ deaths rock Cheverly community n
ministration, or SHA, to request that safety improvements such as a pedestrian-activated light be put in place at the busy intersection of East-West Highway and Riverdale Road. Archer said a child was struck in the same intersection in December 2012. “It’s moms and kids who keep ending up the victims of this,” Archer said. As they carried handwritten signs that called for a safer intersection, many in the group of mostly Latino residents expressed anger and frustration at what they described as unjust treatment by law enforcement
schools just to make its annual budget balance,” said Bradley Heard of Capitol Heights. “They can’t seriously believe fattening their own paychecks is in the public interest.” County Bill 68-2014 came up for introduction before the Prince George’s County Council on Sept. 2 and is under review. The bill, proposed by County Council Chairman Mel Franklin (Dist. 9) of Upper Marlboro, would increase the county executive’s pay from $187,753
PHOTO BY TRAE PATTON/NBC
Hyattsville resident Zina Garrison, a former Olympic gold medalist tennis player, is a contestant on the NBC show, “The Biggest Loser: Glory Days.”