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Wednesday, August 14, 2013
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Big fish, big bucks for area anglers Crew catches first-place white marlin in Ocean City tourney n
BY
TERRI HOGAN STAFF WRITER
PHOTOS BY DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Maryland amusement ride inspector Chad Georg (right) walks through the funhouse with ride supervisor Stephen Bergeron at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair on Thursday.
BEFORE THE THRILLS,
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Safetyfirst
Ride inspector says mechanical failures are rare
KATE S. ALEXANDER
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STAFF WRITER
efore thousands of fairgoers hop on the Ferris wheel or enter the funhouse at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, inspectors spend days combing over every midway ride to ensure each is in safe working order. Maryland’s Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation conducts about 6,000 ride inspections each year to ensure the safety of Marylanders who use amusement rides, said Rob Gavel, supervisor of the department’s Amusement Ride Safety Unit. State inspectors arrived at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds on Aug. 5, when most rides were still in transport trailers.
“When they are like that, you get to see the rides ... parts of the rides you don’t get to see once they are fully assembled,” Gavel said. Gavel spoke Thursday as his team was finishing inspections in advance of Friday’s opening. Inspectors checked for proper assembly, that the foundation of each ride was secure, that the nuts and bolts holding rides together were properly torqued, that all pins were in place and that safety devices worked. Each ride also was turned on and run to ensure proper speeds and that fences were in the correct place, he said. “We have to see it run before we put a certificate on it,” Gavel said. Gavel said no major issues or concerns were found among the approxi-
Women wielded crosscut saws, hot saws and axes for performances
Montgomery College introduces first ‘massive open online course’ n
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BY KARA ROSE STAFF WRITER
The Lumberjills chopped, sawed and rolled their way into the 65th Montgomery County Agricultural Fair for the first time on Friday.
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POLICE LINK FRAUD CASES North Bethesda crimes took place at same shopping center.
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LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
Maryland amusement ride inspector Chad Georg checks over the funhouse at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair on Thursday. n Visit our website for more stories and photo galleries
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The four women donned black and pink T-shirts that read “Chics With Axes” and competed in a series of events against each other during the 30-minute performance, including hot saws, crosscut saws, ax throwing, wood carving, the underhand chop and log rolling. The women are part of Timber Tina’s World Champion Lumberjills, which travels throughout North America
competing and performing. The crew is the first all-women’s logging sport entertainers. The group was started about 18 years ago, and the women do their own set-up and tear-down for the show. Patty Christinat of Connecticut served as an emcee for the performance. She first took an interest in logging sports when she joined her woodsman team in college in Maine. Christinat
competed at a collegiate level for about two years before joining the professional circuit, which she has been in for the past seven years. She said she was drawn to the hobby because of how unique it is. Christinat said it is empowering to chop through a piece of wood. Her favorite event is the underhanded chop where she
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A WHOLE NEW REALITY Coaches say there has been an increase in high school athletes transferring to new schools.
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Lumberjills bust their chops at county fair n
On day two of fishing, 37 minutes of reeling led to $1.2 million in prize money. An 83-pound white marlin put local anglers Mike McCarthy of Brinklow and Bill Britt of Sandy Spring and the rest of the crew aboard the OdinSpear in first place in the 40th annual White Marlin Open, known as the world’s largest billfish tournament. The tournament took place Aug. 5-9 in Ocean City. According to www.whitemarlinopen.com, 262 boats were entered, with prize money totaling more than $2.4 million. There are categories for blue marlin, tuna, dolphin, wahoo and shark, but the white marlin is the prized fish of the tournament.
“The white marlin is the premier catch,” McCarthy said. “That is because there are fewer of the species, and it is very difficult to hook them.” McCarthy, Britt and friends hauled in the winning white marlin, weighing 83 pounds, which earned them $1,201,742.93. They also had the second-place wahoo, weighing in at 66 pounds, and worth $20,588.33. McCarthy said the crew gets 30 percent of the winnings. The six anglers will divide the rest, which comes to about $145,000 each. He said that everyone was happy with their cut. He plans to use his share to pay for his children’s college tuitions. Britt planned to do the same. “With two kids in college, this will certainly come in handy,” he said. The two local men were onboard OdinSpear, along with friends with whom they
Montgomery College is offering a new English prep class with no price tag, no class-size limit and only one prerequisite: an Internet connection. Joining in a growing group of colleges offering such a course, and setting out as the first community college in Maryland to produce its own, Montgomery College has added its first massive open online course (MOOC) — an English prep class that is, as the name would suggest, pretty big and completely open. “It’s free and available to anyone in the world who has Internet access,” said Emily Rosado, an associate professor at the college who will lead the online course involving video lectures, assigned readings and discussion boards. “MOOCs are kind of all the rage right now,” she said. Rosado said she has experience teaching several English classes, including freshmen English, introduc-
tion to literature and introduction to journalism — but this class represents a large jump for her in terms of class size. “It’s a little scary,” she said. As of Monday, about 215 students were enrolled, including people living in England, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates. The college also plans to reach out to high school students in Montgomery County Public Schools, Rosado said. While she said it is exciting to have international students, Rosado said the college wants especially to offer Montgomery County and other Maryland students a class that can help students avoid remedial classes and ensure they finish their degree. The class is aimed toward preparing a student for a college-level English course, whether it’s a person who has been out of school for a while, someone in the military testing out an online course or a high school student looking for some extra preparation before heading to college, she said. Students at the college
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