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The Gazette
PICKUP ‘LINE’ Olney Theatre Center energized by massive musical production. A-11
POTOMAC | NORTH POTOMAC
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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
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Nine homes demolished to make way for new museum Glenstone to house billionaire couple’s modern art collection
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PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
What was once a quiet cul de sac of designer homes in Potomac now looks like an innercity demolition zone. Tall chain-link fencing lines both sides of Three Sisters Road, off Glen Road, as construction equipment operators work to tear down nine houses that, until just recently, were lived in. The homes were purchased as part of the expansion of
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Leah King, technical leader of the Forensic Chemistry Unit, works in the Montgomery County Crime Lab in Gaithersburg.
microscope Crime under a
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See MUSEUM, Page A-10
Police lab scientists, analysts break down cases in Gaithersburg facility
ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH
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STAFF WRITER
With tweezers, Leah King takes a pinch out of a small, leafy bud. She drops it in a vial and adds a few drops of chemicals. “It’s going to turn a nice, dark purple,” she predicts, giving the vial a couple of swirls. Sure enough, in just a few seconds, the solution fizzes deep purple, showing that the sample is likely strong, high-quality marijuana. “If you were looking to smoke, this
would be the stuff,” joked King, the technical leader of the Forensic Chemistry Unit in Montgomery County Police’s Crime Laboratory. The lab processes evidence connected to the thousands of arrests police officers make and the hundreds of cases they investigate every year. The nationally certified lab takes up a swath of the fifth floor of Montgomery County’s new public safety headquarters, tucked away next to a bucolic lake on Edison Park Drive in Gaithersburg. The lab — which moved, along with the rest of the department, earlier this year from the department’s old home in Rockville — looks like a cross between a suburban office and a high school lab on steroids.
Five units — Firearms Examinations, Latent Prints, Forensic Biology, Forensic Chemistry, and Crimes Scenes — operate in the lab, which takes up about 20,000 square feet, according to lab director Ray Wickenheiser. A sixth unit, Electronic Crimes, also falls under the lab’s authority, but operates under Montgomery County Police’s Financial Crimes section, said Jackie Raskin-Burns, the lab’s quality manager. Thirty scientists work in the lab. An additional eight, all sworn police officers, make up the Electronic Crimes unit. Security at the lab is tight. “Each lab is programmed to know who has access to that particular room,”
RENDERING BY PETER GUTHRIE
The entrance to the new Glenstone museum is shown in this rendering.
Shade Brigade program starts out small and slow
See CRIME, Page A-10
Potomac group works to help county’s elderly beat the heat
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Acting principal is chosen for troubled school Probe continues into Rock Terrace program
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Glenstone, a 200-acre private property that is the home of Mitchell Rales and his wife, Emily Wei Rales. It’s also the site of Glenstone museum, where the couple display their collection of post-World War II art. Rales, a Bethesda native and co-founder of the Danaher Corp. manufacturing company, is worth $3.9 billion, according to Forbes’ 2013 list of billionaires. His wife is an art historian and curator. Through a spokeswoman, they declined an interview request. “Isn’t it sad?” asked Sheila Keenan, 61, of Whites Ferry as
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
An acting principal has been named for Rock Terrace School in Rockville as investigations continue to look into how the school’s staff handled money that students earned in a work-study program.
Katherine Lertora, currently the coordinator/administrator at the Stephen Knolls School in Kensington, will temporarily take the spot left open by Dianne G. Thornton, who will retire effective Aug. 1, said Dana Tofig, a spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools. The search process for a permanent principal will start during the winter, he said. Tofig said earlier this
month that he could not comment on whether Thornton’s retirement was related to the investigation, saying it was a personnel matter. In a letter to school staff, students, parents and guardians on July 18, Associate Superintendent for High Schools Christopher Garran said interviews for the permanent principal are planned for the spring of 2014. “At that time, I will work
with the community in order to review the process for principal selection and to bring together an interview team consisting of staff, parents and central office representatives,” Garran said in the letter. The school system and the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office are investigating the school after parents raised allegations that staff
SPORTS
Fresh food is on the menu for a number of Montgomery County Public Schools.
Screaming Eagles adjust after second star player transfers out in consecutive seasons.
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SENECA LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
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RECYCLE
KATIE POHLMAN
A local band of do-gooders is fanning out into the community to help the elderly stay safe in the heat this summer. Trouble is, the group called the Shade Brigade is having a hard time finding seniors in need. Emeritus Senior Living of Potomac launched its Shade Brigade program this year to deliver water, Gatorade and other items to help elderly citizens in Mont-
See PRINCIPAL, Page A-10
NEWS
‘GROWING’ TREND IN SCHOOLS
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SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
gomery County beat the heat. The original plan was to deliver coolers stocked with these items to seniors living by themselves throughout the county, said Eric Varin, a member of Emeritus’ Northeast Divisional Team. But after reaching out to many senior care organizations, Emeritus received no feedback. “I think people thought this was a promotional program,” he said. “But it is a community service one.” The Rockville Senior Center was the only organization that welcomed Emeritus’ help. So, on July 24, Memory Care Director Nathan Baker delivered about 10 red insulated canvas
See SHADE, Page A-10
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