‘HOLLA’ POINTS
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Sinbad talks about his life, influences and new show. A-11
The Gazette POTOMAC | NORTH POTOMAC
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Wednesday, August 21, 2013
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Fears of fair fleeing unfounded Executive director: ‘The fairground is not for sale’
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BY AGNES BLUM STAFF WRITER
Imagine retail stores where the carousel spins, cafés instead of piglet races and a 12-story apartment building where Old MacDonald’s Barn now stands. It could happen, thanks to last spring’s rezoning of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds. But the executive director of the fair, Martin Svrcek, says there are no plans to scrap the fair in favor of a
neighborhood with more than 1 million square feet of commercial and office space and 1,350 homes, as outlined in the rezoning documents. “The only new plans are the construction of the new Old MacDonald’s Barn,” Svrcek said. The Montgomery County Agricultural Center owns the 63 acres. “The fairground is not for sale.” In June 2012, Gaithersburg leaders approved an application from the Montgomery County Agricultural Center to rezone the fairground. The zon-
See FAIR, Page A-10
Serving up a record The Big Cheese surpasses goal of 10,000 sandwiches n
BY KRISTA BRICK STAFF WRITER
It’s not every Friday night that you eat the record-breaking grilled cheese sandwich. But on Friday at precisely 9:50 p.m., one day before the wrapup of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, Gina Consumano of Rockville ordered and ate the 10,000th
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
The 65th fair at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds.
NewSAME buildings, SPIRIT
grilled cheese sandwich made at The Big Cheese. That sandwich put the fair at the 10,000sandwich goal set by The Big Cheese’s operator, Ed Hogan. In all, 11,772 gooey, toasted sandwiches were sold this year. For Consumano, 25, the $3.50 sandwich lived up to its hype. “Grilled cheese is just the all-American food. I wouldn’t say I am a connoisseur but when I ate it I thought it was good,” she said, adding that this
See RECORD, Page A-10
Water rescue teams guard county’s shores, rivers and lakes Specialists have made 61 rescues so far this year n
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BY TERRI HOGAN ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH STAFF WRITERS
Silver Spring, Herbert Hoover Middle School in Potomac and Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville. A number of elementary schools will open Monday with new additions, including Bradley Hills, Westbrook and Wyngate in Bethesda, and Georgian Forest and Viers Mill in Silver Spring. Though Gaithersburg High still was in prep mode on Monday, it already showed signs of the activity it will hold starting next week. As varsity and junior varsity football players practiced on the new turf field and a group of
In late July, Montgomery County firefighters pulled the body of a 25-year-old man out of a stormwater retention pond in Gaithersburg. The recovery mission was one of dozens that the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service is called to make every year, not for reports of burning buildings, but to rescue people or respond to water emergencies around the county. “It takes a special person to be a firefighter and run inside a burning building, but it takes an extra-special person to throw themselves into Class IV rapids,” according to Capt. Mark Brown, of the Sandy Spring Volunteer Fire Department, which makes water rescues in much of the eastern part of Montgomery County. Whatever the situation, Montgomery County’s River Rescue and Tactical Services teams are the ones floating, swimming and motoring to the rescue. River Rescue and Tactical Services is headquartered in the Cabin John stations (10 and 30), but it has other units in Sandy Spring and other stations around the county, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Asst. Chief Scott Graham. “We can mobilize resources based on areas we believe will be most impacted,” he said. As of Aug. 17, swift water rescue teams have made 61 rescues this year, Graham said. Of those rescues, 12 have been for people injured on the Billy Goat Trail, a hiking trail on the Maryland side of the Potomac River near Great Falls. Another 12 were for cars trapped in water inland (such as submerged in water during storms). Swift water teams made 27 rescues in the rapids of the Potomac, and five rescues in the river’s calmer waters above Great Falls, Graham said. The team also was called to assist with five emergency situations not related to water, Graham said. “The quantity is proportional [to previous years] but the complexity has been a little bit different,” he said, citing the deaths of an expe-
See NEW, Page A-10
See RESCUE, Page A-9
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
The entrance of the new Gaithersburg High School on Tuesday as teachers and students prepare for the start of the school year next week. BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
While Gaithersburg High School students are making their final preparations as the academic year draws closer, their school continued its own steps this week to get ready for them. The high school’s new building showed signs of a long-term project undergoing its final stage: “Wet Paint” signs cautioned passers-by Monday, minor construction work produced whirs and beeps, and tables and other furniture stood ready for arrangement. As she walked through the 422,000-square-
GAITHERSBURG HIGH, OTHER SCHOOLS WELCOME STUDENTS WITH CHANGE OF SCENERY n
foot building on Monday, Christine HandyCollins, the high school’s principal, said everything will be ready before school starts Monday. “We’ll be ready to rock ’n’ roll,” she said. Gaithersburg High students will be among a group of county public school students passing through new doors this fall: Glenallan and Weller Road elementary schools in
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A Potomac couple have started RentACoop, a business that rents coops and chickens.
Baseline concussion testing is officially part of all Montgomery County Public Schools sports programs.
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