GAMING GETS GOING County Council approves MGM casino site proposal. A-5
NEWS: Laurel playhouse set to open “Peter Pan”; organizers say play is a teaching method. A-3
The Gazette
NORTHERN AND CENTRAL PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNT Y DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Robotic summer
Students design, program robots for lunar simulation BY JAMIE
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Laurel police tout cameras n
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
Talented and Gifted middle school students are learning what it takes to explore the final frontier, building robots to scan and explore a simulated moon environment. “We have a rover bot, and we have to find lunar ice on the surface of the moon, so we programmed it to find lunar ice,” said Eric Martin, 12, of Greenbelt, one of the participants in the summer space robotics program at the Howard Owens Science Center in Lanham. “When it finds the ice, it spins around or makes noises.” The program, now in its third year, is the only Maryland Summer Center program in Prince George’s County, said Virginia Fulton, the robotics program director. For 47 years, the Maryland Summer Center programs have been providing 30 TAG students with summer education experiences at various state locations. “This is the first one that’s ever been here in Prince George’s County,” Fulton said, adding that almost half the students in the program are from Prince George’s. “It gives kids who are local, who might not be able to travel out of the county, a place to go.” The 10-day summer center, which ended Tuesday, is not a camp, Fulton said. “A lot of time when people hear camp, they think it’s a summer hangout place,” Fulton said. “The students have a lot of fun here, but they’re very academically challenged from the moment they come in.” The rising seventh- to ninth-graders enrolled have been learning about the history of space exploration, robotics, and programs, Fulton said. Ricara Beale, 12, of Temple Hills, said she particularly enjoyed the process of building the robots. “I want to be an engineer or scientist,” Ricara said. “The best part is learning to engineer, so I can achieve my goals.” As part of the program, students have designed, built and programmed
See ROBOTS, Page A-6
Mahendra Desai of Laurel said he has not been caught on camera exceeding the 25 mph speed limit on Oxford Drive since the speed-enforcement devices were installed a few months ago, but he knows the consequences of driving too fast through his Laurel Lakes neighborhood. “They charge $40 per violation,” said Desai, 63. “When you are passing through, you see the flash ... so you get indication that you got a ticket.” As drivers become more familiar with the speed enforcement cameras — which take a picture of the license plates of vehicles traveling at least 12 mph faster than the speed limit, resulting in a citation for the vehicle owners
See CAMERAS, Page A-6
Hyattsville aims to save ‘saucer’ n
Hyattsville’s iconic flying saucer may be saved, even while architects look at plans for replacing the library it has stood in front of for 50 years. “We heard loud and clear that the saucer is important to the community as both an architectural feature and as a community icon that people have grown up with,” said Melanie Hennigan, president of Grimm + Parker, the Calverton-based architectural firm hired by the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System to design a new Hyattsville branch library. Hennigan spoke July 19 at the College Park Community Center during the first of three public forums held to garner community input for the project.
See LIBRARY, Page A-6 GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Donnell Smith (left), 12, of Temple Hills and Jaeuk Yang, 13, of Laurel watch as the robot they programmed is tested Monday on an obstacle course during a robotics summer camp at the Howard B. Owens Science Center in Lanham.
STAFF WRITER
A group of over 30 Hyattsville and Mount Rainier residents have discovered there’s savings in numbers, joining together to create a new solar power cooperative. Chris Yeazel, program director of the nonprofit Maryland Solar United Neighborhoods, or SUN, said that by forming a group of 20 or more within a specific geographic region, members are able to negotiate bulk
NEWS
discounts of 20 to 30 percent from solar panel installers. “We were able to negotiate as a group, and that gave us the ability to get a considerable price discount,” said Fran Toler of Mount Rainier, one of the co-op members. “It was wonderful.” The solar cooperative, or co-op, formed in January with residents from the two cities, and is still accepting members in the Hyattsville area until July 31 due to the timesensitive nature of the bidding process, Yeazel said. “It’s a group of neighbors who have come together to pool their collective buying power to negotiate lower costs from solar providers,” said Yeazel, whose nonprofit
assists and advises in the formation of community co-ops. Maryland SUN has assisted in the formation of a cooperative for University of Maryland, College Park, faculty and staff, and a cooperative for church congregations in the Baltimore area, Yeazel said. “Bringing people together really makes the process easier to go through because they are able to learn from each other,” Yeazel said. The price of solar panel installation varies, but can cost between $13,000 and $22,000 before tax credits, according to information from Maryland SUN’s website.
See SOLAR, Page A-5
RELOCATION PLANS Colmar Manor officials consider police station move. A-4
Volume 17, No. 30, Two sections, 20 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette Please
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B-5 A-2 B-5 A-7 A-10 B-1
Architect to do feasibility study on renovating library and retaining unique design feature BY JAMIE
Hyattsville and Mount Rainier residents created group to negotiate lower price from installers
Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
ALICE POPOVICI STAFF WRITER
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INDEX
Speeding violations are down, and revenue is being used to buy seven new cars BY
From two communities comes one solar co-op BY JAMIE
SPORTS: Laurel-bred horse tops $2 million in winnings after winning 22nd stakes race. B-1
Greenbelt brings living wall to life n
Groups join to grow educational green space at recreation center BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
Visitors may soon be able to get a little exercise while helping to water a “living wall” of free-growing plants at Greenbelt’s Springhill Lake Recreation Center. A living wall is a vertical surface with soil and a watering system to support a variety of plant growth, said Tony Dimeglio of the Greenbelt environmental education nonprofit TapRoots, the lead organization on the project. “It’s alive and ever-changing and has an ecological succession,” Dimeglio said. The living wall is being paid for through a $15,000
See WALL, Page A-6